Loki's Match
by ChelsieLynn
Summary: What happens when Clint's sister is sent to Asgard to keep on eye on Loki during his imprisonment? Will the god of mischief and lies have met his match? Eventual Loki/OC. Rated T for language. Based on movie, not comics so I've warned you if there are discrepancies. My first Avengers fic.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: So this is my first Avengers fanfic so please no bashing! This is my take on what happens to Loki when he and Thor return to Asgard. There will eventually be Loki/OC. My OC is Waverly and I made her be Clint's sister for an added twist, so please don't complain about that! The story shifts from Loki's POV to Waverly's POV. I haven't read the comics so this is based solely on the movies "Thor" and "The Aveners." I'm not totally sure where I'm going with this so I'll welcome any suggestions. Please read and review. I hope you like!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except my OC!**

Chapter One:

"_Loki can return to face Asgardian justice on one condition," Director Fury said, his voice determined. "Otherwise, SHIELD will determine his fate."_

"_And what is the nature of this condition, Director?" Thor asked._

"_One of our agents will accompany you back to your home realm. Then, they will act as our contact between the realms. I want to keep tabs on the bastard for obvious reasons."_

"_You do not trust that I am capable of dealing with my brother's crimes?" Thor thundered. He rose from his chair._

_Agent Romanoff stood as well, in Fury's defense. "That is not what Director Fury is suggesting at all," she said in her level voice. "We simply want one of our own present, who's full attention can be given to Loki. You, Thor, as king of Asgard, will have other duties. We can't trust to be in contact with you at all times. If one of our agents is there, we will feel much more at ease."_

_Thor dropped back down into his seat. He was quiet for a moment, his eyes thoughtful. Finally, he nodded his head. "Very well. Who shall be accompanying my brother and I to Asgard? Surely not another Avenger."_

"_No," Fury said. "A volunteer actually." Fury stood from his chair and left the room. Thor looked at Natasha expectantly but she did not give away anything. When Fury returned, a small girl followed behind him. Thor had to admit he was shocked. His eyes widened as he surveyed the girl. He was expecting Agent Hill or someone… larger._

"_Thor, this is Agent Barton," Fury said. The girl held her hand out to Thor._

"_Pleased to finally make your acquaintance, Thor," stated Agent Barton._

"_Barton?" Thor questioned. Still, he held out his hand and gingerly shook the girl's, afraid of breaking it._

"_Yes. Waverly Barton. Hawkeye is my brother."_

_Thor had to smile. Knowing this girl was Clint's sister made him feel much more comfortable with the situation. If this girl was Clint's sister, she must be more deadly than seemed at first look._

* * *

The god of mischief sat hunched over at the table in his cell. He wasn't quite sure how he landed in this situation. He had the tesseract, he had his army; he should have won. Earth and her pathetic humans should be clenched in his fist, bowing to his command. But, instead, Loki was a prisoner in the palace of his home realm. It was all thanks to the Avengers and his brother. Oh, how Loki despised them. His hands balled up into fists and he felt the anger churning in the pit of his stomach. Leave it to Thor to ruin his plans, just like when he tried to destroy Jutenheim. And then Thor's new best friends had to get involved. Loki subconsciously rubbed the back of his neck. He was still sore from when the Hulk threw him around like a blasted rag doll. Loki felt his cheeks begin to burn at the memory of this embarrassing incident.

Loki pushed himself from his chair and began to pace his cell. He had been locked up for less than a day and was already restless. And unlike his stay on the helicarrier, there was no one here to manipulate; no one to play with.

Loki stopped pacing at the sound of a knock on the steel door of his cell. He looked through the small barred window to see the top of someone's head. Seconds later, the sound of a key fumbling in a lock could be heard and the door swung open.

Loki couldn't help but raise his eyebrows. They had sent a child to his cell? Loki looked the girl up and down. She was short, not even reaching his shoulders. She had a thick head of brunette hair that swept around her shoulders in a soft curtain. Her eyes were big and brown, taking in the sight of the imprisoned god. She was dressed in the same type of clothes that Asgardian servants typically wear. In her hands was a tray of food.

Loki blinked at the girl and she slowly stepped into the room. Over her shoulders, Loki could see the profiles of two large guards who put his brother's girth to shame. The girl was walking towards Loki's table, but he could feel her wide eyes on him. Her face was pale and she looked rather uneasy. No one to play with? Looked like that changed.

The girl set the food on his table and turned to leave the room.

"Thank you, kind miss," Loki said in his eerie, but charming, voice. The girl stopped and turned her face back to the god. She looked thoroughly shocked.

"Welcome," she mumbled.

Loki stepped towards her, closing the gap between the two. That's when he sensed it. This girl was not of Asgard. His lips curled in a snarl. "My brother thinks to send me a _human_ as my servant? What madness is this?"

The girl stood with a look of shock. It soon drained and she pulled herself up to her full height, which was only about 5'2". "Yes, I am human. And I am an agent for SHIELD." She took a step towards Loki and pressed a finger to his chest. "So don't try any of your games, _god of mischief,_ because my boss won't like it. I'm here to make sure your sentence suits your crimes. Director Fury and I feel life imprisonment is quite lenient for a monster such as yourself."

Loki's snarl turned into an irritated frown and he felt the anger crawl back into his veins. So, Director Fury didn't trust Thor to keep him in check. Fury had to send one of his little lap dogs here to keep his eye on the situation. He brushed the girl's finger from his chest and grabbed her forearm with such force, she let out a squeal of pain. Loki may have had his magic taken away, but he still retained his god-like strength. "Listen, you mewling pest, I may be a prisoner, but I am a god. Lay a finger on me again and I will snap your neck like the twig it is." Loki let go of the girl's arm and both guards rushed into the room.

"Agent Barton, are you all right?" One asked in his husky voice.

Loki's eyebrows jumped up his forehead. Agent Barton? Hawkeye? Last Loki knew, Barton was a man; not this pathetic little girl.

"I'm fine," Barton said, holding her arm and throwing Loki a venomous look. "Let the baby throw his little tantrum."

"Agent Barton?" Loki asked. He wasn't sure why the words escaped his lips.

The girl looked at him again. This time, the snarl was on her face. "Yes. Barton. Waverly Barton. Clint's my brother and frankly, I'm quite pissed you got in his head and messed with him. So, if you don't mind, how about you don't touch me ever again and he won't have to come here and kick your ass. And let me tell you, he is just waiting for an excuse to do so."

Loki was ashamed at his loss for words. He knew he must look pathetic, his mouth slightly opened, eyes wide. He felt furious with himself and his anger only grew when he saw the snarl on Waverly's face twist even more. "Very well," Loki said through clenched teeth.

"Glad you see it my way," Waverly said. "Enjoy your dinner." Venom dripped from her voice and she left the room. Loki heard his door lock and the light footsteps of Waverly leaving the dungeon.

* * *

As Waverly walked back to her room, her skin tingled where Loki had grabbed her arm. His touch was icy cold and she couldn't shake the feeling. He had looked at her with such hatred, such evil in his deep blue-green eyes. His eyes made her sick. They reminded her of the icy blue eyes her brother had while he was under Loki's control. The only reason she accepted this job was to make sure Loki didn't escape and try anything sneaky again. Sure, Waverly was a SHIELD agent, but she only worked for the secret agency because her brother had recommended it. She wasn't a fighter, had little to no athletic skills, completely the opposite of her brother. Waverly's main job at SHIELD was to keep tabs on all potential Avengers candidates and report their actions once a week to Coulson. But Coulson was dead now, thanks to Loki, and the Avengers had more or less accepted their role as Earth' protectors. So, now Waverly was pretty much out of a job. Until Fury walked into the debriefing room and asked for volunteers for a special assignment. Watch over Loki and report to SHIELD. She had jumped at this opportunity.

So now, Waverly lived on Asgard, in the palace. Thor had suggested she act as a simple Asgardian maid when she went to monitor Loki. Well, that was out of the question now. Waverly stripped from the uncomfortable Asgardian garb and dressed in a pair of black skinny jeans and a dark purple button-down shirt. She slipped on a pair of light, combat boots, given to her by her brother. She was much more comfortable now.

Sitting on her large bed, Waverly pulled out her smartphone and selected Fury's number from the contact list. His face appeared live on her screen after the second ring.

"Agent Barton, why are you not dressed in your disguise?" The director asked.

"Loki found me out," Waverly answered. "So I figured I might as well dress as myself."

Fury nodded. "And what is the little bastard up to?"

"Thor has him locked in a high security cell in the dungeons," Waverly stated. "His magic has been taken away but he's still strong as hell." Waverly aimed the phone's camera at her arm. "Once he figured out I was human, he didn't play so nicely."

Fury's one eye widened at the bruise on Waverly's arm. "Are you sure you can handle this task, Waverly?"

Waverly put her face back on screen. "Yes, Director. This man made a monster out of my brother. I intend to make sure he pays for his crimes." A dark shadow flashed across Waverly's brown eyes.

Fury looked at her carefully. "Agent Barton, you are not approved to do anything outside of your job description."

"Understood, Director Fury," Waverly assured. "I'm just here to make sure Loki rots for as long as I'm allowed to stay on this planet."

Fury nodded. "Just keep us posted if his status changes."

"Affirmative." Waverly ended the call and pocketed her phone. It was amazing really. She had surrendered the device to Tony and Bruce before she left for Asgard. Whatever they did to the thing made it powerful enough to still contact SHIELD back on Earth.

Waverly slumped back on her pillows. She was not a superhero or an assassin or a spy like the Avengers. She wasn't even a true agent like most SHIELD employees. The complete opposite of her brother. But still, she wanted to do some good. She wanted to protect people like her brother had on so many occasions. Waverly supposed keeping an eye on Loki was the best she could do. And even if she couldn't personally cause him pain and humiliation, she could toy with his head. God of mischief. Well, he was about to meet his match.

Waverly was jolted from her thoughts when she heard a knock at her door. "Come in," she called.

Thor entered the room and suddenly, Waverly's bedroom felt much smaller than it was. The god of thunder towered above her and his voice boomed around the room. "Miss Barton, how did your first encounter with my brother fair?"

Waverly held out her arm. A lovely purple bruise was painted just above her elbow. "Better than expected, actually. You know, he has hands as cold as ice."

Thor had to chuckle at this, but he eyed Waverly's arm apprehensively. "Waverly," he said, his voice now gentle. "Are you sure you are up to this task?"

"Thor," Waverly said in as stern a voice as she could muster. "I may be small and I'm not a superhero, but I am Hawkeye's sister. I'll survive. Clint taught me how to defend myself. I was caught off-guard when Loki grabbed me. It won't happen again."

"Maybe I should accompany you, from now on?" Thor questioned.

"I think that'll just make Loki more pissy. Really, I'll be fine."

Thor nodded and turned back to Waverly's door. "If you need anything, just ask."

"Thank you Thor."

Thor left the room and Waverly slumped back against her pillows. Even though it was only the afternoon, she fell asleep. Traveling between realms, meeting the god of mischief, she was exhausted.

Waverly was awoken around dinner time, by Thor knocking on her door once again. "Miss Barton? Waverly? Are you all right?"

Waverly opened her eyes slowly and rolled from her bed. It was massive really. And covered in silken sheets. Asgard really spared no expense. She opened her large wooden door and stepped aside to let Thor in. "I was just taking a nap. Sorry."

"Quite all right. You've had a rather busy day. Would you like dinner?" Thor offered his arm to Waverly.

"Yes, I'm starving." Waverly laced her arm in Thor's and he led her to the dining room. Waverly was overwhelmed to say the least. The palace was huge. There were so many twists and turns, so many doorways. And everything was so lavish. Nearly all the door handles were made of gold. The floors were marble and all the furniture was made of a shiny metal or gorgeous wood. Rugs were velvet and when the windows had curtains, they were made of pure white lace. Waverly tried to take in everything, but there was so much.

When Waverly entered the dining room, Thor led her to her seat. Waverly didn't realize she'd be eating with the entire royalty of Asgard. She nodded her head respectfully at Odin and his wife, and then took her seat. Again, she was in awe. The dishes and goblets were made of crystal and there was so much food; Waverly's stomach growled at the sight of it. Waverly didn't recognize any of the dishes, but it smelled wonderful.

Odin gave some words of welcome and Thor introduced Waverly to those who had not yet met her. The human girl shook hands with all of Thor's friends, as well as several other important people who's names she could not remember.

Waverly stayed silent through most of the meal. She stuffed herself with some kind of bird that was roasted and downed several glasses of wine. Being only 20, Waverly was just shy of drinking age back home, but here, there was nothing else to drink. Waverly smiled to herself. She was glad her older brother had allowed her to drink with him on several occasions, otherwise she'd be drunk by now. Waverly finished off her meal with some succulent, strange fruit when the conversation turned to Loki.

"Lady Barton," Odin thundered, "Was my son," Odin searched for a word, "Accepting of you?"

Waverly looked up at the god. "Not entirely." She showed off her wonderful bruise. "You tell me?" Waverly felt Thor's warning gaze. She was being too casual with Thor's father. Waverly cleared her throat. "What I mean to say is that he found out I was human. He wasn't too pleased with that fact."

"Are you sure you're still up to this task?" Odin asked.

Waverly suppressed the urge to roll her eyes. If she heard that question one more time, she was going to lose it. But, Odin's words were filled with concern and Waverly felt touched that Thor's father worried about her safety.

"Yes, I am sure. I can handle Loki."

Dessert was served and it was some type of ice cream-like treat. Waverly loved the stuff. It was sweeter than any ice cream she had had on Earth but it was also light. Waverly ate four bowls before her stomach started groaning in protest. Once dinner was finished, a maid laid a covered tray in front of Waverly.

"This for Loki?" Waverly asked. The maid nodded. Waverly turned to Odin. "Loki still gets to eat like a prince even though he's a prisoner?"

Odin nodded. "He is still my son."

Waverly waited for Thor to excuse himself and then followed him through the maze-like halls. The pair descended into the dungeon. It was significantly cooler down in the dungeons and less lavish. They passed several lower security cells. Guards were scattered here and there. Finally, they reached the door that led to the high security cell. Two burly guards stood on either side. They opened the door and allowed Thor and Waverly to pass without question.

"Waverly, there will be no guards directly outside Loki's cell. But I will be there if you need me."

Waverly nodded at the god of thunder and walked down the stone hallway to Loki's cell.

She knocked once but wasn't quite sure why. He was a prisoner, a criminal, he didn't deserve privacy. And he certainly didn't deserve his cell. Waverly unlocked the door and pushed it open. Loki's cell was small and cold but he had a bed with the same lavish, silk bedding that Waverly had. He had a nice wooden table and a small shelf with some things to occupy his time; paper and quills, some books, nothing he could use as a weapon. It was far too nice in Waverly's opinion.

* * *

Loki looked up when Waverly entered his cell for the second time that day. Instead of catching him in a restless pace, Loki was now sprawled out on his bed, his arms crossed behind his head.

"Ah, Waverly," he said with fake enthusiasm.

"You will call me Agent Barton. We're not friends, Loki." Waverly walked into the room and let the door close softly behind her. She had the keys secured firmly to a belt loop of her jeans. She sat the tray of food on Loki's table. "Here's you dinner."

Loki didn't rise from the bed. He surveyed Waverly for a moment, curious. She was small; he could snap her spine in two with one hand. But she was brave. The fear from her eyes was no longer present and she gazed upon Loki with such hatred, he felt his cheeks reddening. She wasn't dressed as an Asgardian maid and was instead in ugly human clothes. Loki nodded at her. "You are not keeping up with the ruse?"

"Everyone else knows I'm human. I only wore that to keep you from getting your panties in a twist. But, since you figured it out, I though, 'why bother?'" Waverly explained.

Loki swung his legs from the bed and sat facing Waverly. Her arms were crossed and her brow was furrowed. She looked quite menacing for such a tiny creature. Loki laughed. Humans were so confused. Defiance, determination, strength, they had all these qualities. Really, they were just a pathetic race in need of a true ruler. Loki laughed again and shook his head.

"What?" Waverly snapped, despite herself.

"I am just amused by your defiance." Loki stated. He rose from the bed and sat at the table. Waverly took a few steps back from him, her arms still crossed and her gaze still furious.

"Defiance?"

"Yes."

Waverly rolled her eyes. "You are demented." Loki laughed again. Waverly shook her head this time and walked to the door. "You better show me some respect, Loki, or else I'll make sure all you have to eat is stale bread and water."

Loki opened his mouth to retort, but Waverly slid from the room and locked the door with a deafening click. Loki was once again furious with himself. Waverly had gotten the last word with him twice in one day. He was really starting to miss the gift of his silver tongue. No matter. He was still his mischievous, sarcastic, evil self. Waverly would soon regret volunteering for this job.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Heeere's chapter two. I also would like to mention that I really don't know much about Norse mythology or anything so if this sounds stupid, let me know and I might have to do some reading up on the stuff. Thanks to my one reviewer so far! I want feedback! Any kind. I'm taking a break from another fic to write this. I hope you like! I own nothing except my OC.**

Chapter 2:

Waverly awoke the next morning, shivering. She jolted up in her bed, a cold sweat running down her face. Panting, she held her head in her hands as the images from her nightmares faded from her mind. She had dreamt about Loki and her brother. Loki was controlling him; forced him to kill the other Avengers, made him kill Director Fury, and then, Loki turned Clint on her. Waverly shakily rose from her bed and went to her washroom. She rinsed her face with cool water and shook the visions from her mind. Looking at herself in the mirror, Waverly resolved to stop letting these dreams get to her. Loki was here, in jail. He couldn't get to her brother. His magic had been taken away by Odin. There was no way he could hurt Clint or control him again.

Waverly briefly considered calling her brother but she had no idea where he was on Earth or what time it was. She wouldn't want to wake him; his sleep was even more disturbed than hers. Her brother could be on a mission. A mission would be good for him. Shooting things always relaxed him. Still, Waverly knew he would be much more at ease if that "thing" was Loki.

_Oh god. Loki._ Waverly thought as her face contorted in a grimace. She really didn't want to have to see his nasty face so early in the day. But she had a job to do. After Waverly finished putting on another pair of black skinny-jeans and a white tank top with lace fringe, she finished off the outfit with a leather jacket Natasha had given to her. Briefly, Waverly wondered what Loki would say about her choice in attire today. She honestly didn't care. If what she wore bothered Loki, well that made her job all the more enjoyable.

Waverly walked from her room, pulling her hair into a pony tail as she went. She tried to remember the path to the dining room but soon got lost. The palace was massive and everything all looked the same. Waverly came to a large door that looked similar to the one leading to the dining room. _This can't be it. I swear the dining room was further away than this._ Waverly pushed the door open. Her hands flew to her mouth and she suppressed a scream. There, right in front of her, stood the god of mischief. Waverly's eyes widened in fear and she prepared to bolt from the room. Her hand was already reaching for her phone, in order to call Fury.

As her heart rate returned to normal, Waverly realized she wasn't looking at Loki, but a very realistic painting of the god. Waverly let her breath slow down and she fully entered the room. The painting was life-size and remarkably life like. Loki was dressed in that ridiculous reindeer outfit but, stranger than that, he had a smile on his face. It was hardly a smile, but it was there. And it wasn't the twisted grimace she had seen on so many occasions. Waverly gently traced Loki's outline. She knew Asgardians didn't age like humans, but Loki looked younger in this painting. This must have been done before all that madness with the Chitauri. Standing around Loki were his parents and Thor. This was a family portrait. Looking again at the painting, Waverly saw that the main focus was Thor. He looked younger too. Odin was there, his gold eye-patch in place. And the queen, Waverly didn't remember her name, she looked so beautiful. It unnerved Waverly to look at this painting. It made Loki seem too… real. He actually looked handsome with a smile on his face. Waverly turned from the painting to survey the rest of the room.

The room was unlike most other rooms in the palace that she had been in. There were no red and gold tapestries or rugs. The marble and stone forming the room weren't white and gleaming. This room was dark. The velvet rugs on the floor were a deep forest green. The stone walls were gray and the marble on the floor was polished black. Waverly realized this was a bedroom. The bed wouldn't even fit in her house back home. The bedclothes were an emerald green and gleamed in the faint light that the windows allowed in.

"What are you doing in my brother's room?"

Waverly jumped. She turned to the door to see Thor staring at her. "I got lost. I was trying to find the dining room. This is Loki's room?"

"Yes. Why are you here?" Thor asked again.

"I just… got lost. Honestly."

Thor decided Waverly wasn't up to anything devious and nodded at her. "I will have a servant escort you to all meals from now on."

"Thanks." Waverly walked quickly out of the room. Knowing it was Loki's made anger bubble up inside her. She wanted to set fire to his room or tear up his possessions. Not that it would do her or her brother any good; it would just make her feel better.

Thor led Waverly from Loki's bedroom and into the dining room. It didn't occur to Waverly to ask Thor why he had ventured to his brother's room. Their little side trip caused them both to miss much of breakfast. Odin and his wife had already left the table. Thor complained about missing his favorite part of the meal. Waverly simply selected a piece of toasted bread and a glass of some type of exotic fruit juice.

When the young SHIELD agent finished, she located the tray meant for Loki. She scoffed when she saw it. There was enough food here to feed a small family. Why did Loki need to be treated so well? It pissed her off. Well, if he was going to eat his fill, she would have to make him suffer some other way. Playing with his head should suffice.

* * *

Loki had no way of knowing what time it was in his cell, but he knew he should have been served breakfast by now. It made him feel better, referring to Waverly as a servant and acting as if he was being waited on. But, truth was, he was still nothing more than a prisoner. His stomach growled. _Where is that wretch?_ Loki began pacing his cell again. If she was more than another minute late, she would severely regret it.

_Two_ minutes later, he heard footsteps approaching his cell. Loki stood, head held high and shoulders back, right in front of the door. He watched as it slowly opened. Waverly entered, balancing a tray of food between her hip and her left hand. She was securing the keys to his cell to her pants with her free hand.

"You are late." He said in his cold voice.

Waverly's eyebrow cocked up. "Excuse me?"

"You are late. I like to be served my breakfast at dawn." Loki looked down his nose at the girl. He smiled as he saw her face contort with anger.

The tray clattered to the floor. Loki eyed the spilled food. In a flash, Waverly was in his face again, placing another finger on his chest. "Let's get something straight," she said. "I am not your servant. You are a prisoner. I am here to make sure the rest of your life is a living hell. Right now, you got it pretty nice, princy-boy. So, if your breakfast is a little late and a little cold, you can put on your big boy pants and deal with it."

In as equally as quick of a flash, Loki had grabbed Waverly by her throat and trapped her between himself and the cold wall of the cell. "I have warned you against laying your filthy hands on me, mortal."

Waverly gasped for air and Loki smiled evilly, tightening his grip. His smile fell as soon as it had appeared. Waverly had kneed him in the crotch and he fell to his knees, gritting his teeth against the pain. Waverly leapt at him and grabbed his hair in a firm grasp. She pulled his head back and forced him to look her in the face.

"Don't you ever touch me again," she said in a voice much too menacing for one of her size. Loki pushed her away from him and climbed back to his feet. He was looking at her with such hatred. But she did not flinch. She didn't back down. Usually, that look made humans cower at his feet.

Waverly continued. "This is your last warning, Loki." She whipped around and left the cell. Loki's door slammed. The footsteps retreating from the cell were hurried.

Loki rubbed the back of his head. "Gods I hate her," he mumbled. "If I had my magic, she would be nothing but a pile of ashes right now." Loki walked to his now fully ruined breakfast and began eating what he could. If, no, _when_ he got out of this cell, he would kill her. Slowly. Painfully.

* * *

"So toying with Loki didn't go as planned." Waverly sat in her room. She had pretty much figured out the path from her room to Loki's cell, so she didn't get lost this time. Waverly had just gotten off the phone with Agent Hill for the day's report; Fury was busy with some mission. Then, Clint had called her.

"Just be careful. He's a major asshole." Clint's voice said through the phone.

"I know, Clint," Waverly said. "But his magic is gone. Odin took it. He can't hurt me."

"He's still a god. He's got kickass strength."

Waverly laughed. "Yeah, and I got an awesome brother."

Clint remained silent to Waverly continued. "The bastard pinned me to the wall today. By my neck. Yesterday he bruised my arm, today he tried to strangle me. I kicked him in the balls." She paused while Clint laughed. "I know I'm not you and I know I'm not super strong, but I'm a big girl now, brother. You taught me well. I can handle this. I can't wait to get under Loki's skin and make him squirm."

"Just be careful."

"I will, Clint. I love you."

"I love you too. Bye Wave."

Waverly ended the call and pocketed her phone. She liked talking to her brother, despite how much he worried about her. Waverly wished she could talk to Clint more often but with him being an Avenger and all and her being on Asgard… well, chances to talk were few and fleeting.

Waverly took a sip of water and winced as the liquid traveled down her throat. She rubbed her neck. "I hate Loki," she said to herself. Maybe she'd spit in his lunch.

The young agent was so bored, she pulled her phone back out and set herself a reminder around lunch time. 'Spit in Loki's food. Also, kick him in balls again. It's fun.' Waverly then spent much of her time thinking of ways to torture Loki without straying from her assignment. She could tell him she was in his room. Maybe make up a story about how she played pin the tail on the donkey with that stupid picture of him. His face would of course be the donkey's ass.

Thinking of that painting made Waverly feel sick. Loki was once normal. He was once Thor's little brother, just like she was Clint's little sister. He had been a child. He had played and laughed.

Waverly found herself wondering what had happened to make Loki so evil. What happened to make any of the Avengers' enemies evil? Waverly had had a tough life. Things weren't easy for an assassin's sister. But she had never felt so angry with the world that she wanted to kill innocent people. Or enslave the human race. Loki must be one sick, twisted creature.

Waverly caught her reflection in the mirror. _Why am I even thinking about this?_ She asked herself. _Rough him up a few more times. You'll feel better._ This thought made Waverly smile.

* * *

"Brother, do you feel no remorse for what you have done?" Thor sat in the wooden chair in Loki's room. Loki was slouched on his bed, his stomach grumbling. Where was that brat with the food?

"For the millionth time, Thor, I do not."

"But why, Loki? You are my brother, son of Odin. Perhaps if you showed some remorse, father would be willing to forgive you. I have forgiven you."

Loki turned his eyes to his brother. "You are weak, Thor."

"No, Loki," Thor said. His voice was laden with sadness and his bright blue eyes dropped to the floor. "You are the weak one."

Thor stood to leave his brother. As he reached for the door handle, the cell opened and Waverly stepped in.

"Oh, Thor! Am I interrupting?" She asked.

"No, Lady Barton. I was just leaving."

Waverly laughed. "Really Thor. I honestly don't care if I intrude on Loki's privacy. He doesn't deserve it." She threw an icy stare that could rival the gaze of a Frost Giant's in Loki's direction.

"Please, sister of Hawkeye. Loki may be a prisoner, but he is still prince of Asgard. He is still my brother."

At this, both Loki and Waverly snorted. They looked at each other. You could feel the hatred in the room.

"Thor," Waverly said. She didn't take her eyes off Loki. Her voice was low. "He is getting _way_ more than he deserves."

Thor sighed and left the cell. He knew he couldn't make Waverly change her mind about his brother.

After Thor had left, the door sung shut. Waverly sat in Thor's recently vacated seat and placed Loki's lunch on the table. Her phone vibrated in her pocket and she smiled evilly. _Just put one toe out of line. I dare you._ She glared at the god.

"What?" Loki asked. When she didn't respond, he sat up in his bed and stared back at her. "You are infuriating, you know that?"

Waverly's lips tilted up in a smile. "Why thank you, Loki. That's the nicest thing you've ever said to me." Her voice was sarcastically sweet. Loki could just vomit.

Waverly took the lid off Loki's tray of food. "Mmmm, doesn't this look goooood. I think I'll have some." Waverly lifted a roll to her mouth, licked it, and placed it back on Loki's tray.

"You are a child," Loki said.

"To you maybe."

"Why are you doing this? You are either very brave for a human or incredibly stupid."

"Loki, Loki, Loki," Waverly said. She rose from the chair and stood in front of the god. "I want revenge."

"I could snap you like a twig." Loki stood as well. He towered over Waverly and looked down at her, a mad smile playing about his lips.

"But you won't."

"And what makes you think that?"

"If you kill me," Waverly said. Her smile widened a few inches. "If you kill me, you'll lose you're only source of entertainment. You're just itching to cause some mischief or to manipulate someone. But Thor is wise to your tricks. And you're mother and father are no fools. You're in the most heavily guarded cell on Asgard so there aren't even any soldiers here for you to toy with."

Loki let out an irritated breath. Waverly was, after all right. "What does this _revenge_ entail?" He sat back on his bed, crossed his arms, and attempted to look genuinely curious.

"Just think about it, princy-boy," Waverly said. "Loki. God of mischief and lies. Silver Tongue. The manipulator. You lost all that when Odin took your powers. Sure, your mind's still a sick and twisted place, but you hold no power above anyone other than your own wits. Anyone can play with your head just as you've played with theirs. I can get in your head. I can make you squirm. And I am loving every minute of it."

"You are an annoying little creature." Loki growled.

"Awe, you're so sweet." Waverly winked at Loki and then turned on her heel. "Have a nice lunch. I hope you like loogies."

_What in Odin's name is a loogie?_ Loki thought. He heard Waverly disappear down the hall, laughing.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: So I did a little reading on Loki and his background in the comics. I came up with a few ideas that I might use later on. I am still open to suggestions and any type of review (just no bashing!). Enjoy!**

**I own Waverly and nothing else.**

Chapter Three:

Well, if anything, Loki learned what a loogie was. In his bowl of soup swam a large wad of spit, no doubt from Waverly. Loki discarded the soup, but ate the rest of his meal. He even ate the roll, after he had scraped off the first layer. This human was disgustingly irritating. _But,_ Loki thought,_ she is a devious little thing._ It actually felt good to have someone to verbally spar with. Waverly was a sly little devil. Loki was going to enjoy their sarcastic banter, even if he hated the girl with a passion.

When he was finished with his lunch, Loki crossed the room to his small book shelf. All the books on it he had read. And of course, none of these were spell books or books of sorcery. One was even a child's story! Loki huffed and pulled the small book from the shelf. He sat cross-legged on his bed and began to read. He recognized this story; it was one mothers told to their children to scare them into behaving. It was the story of the little Asgardian boy who stayed out past curfew and was captured by a Frost Giant. Loki looked at the drawing of the Frost Giant. Icy-blue skin, gleaming orange eyes. The artist had twisted the giant's features to make him look even more menacing.

Loki ripped the page from the book and crumpled it in his fist. He threw the book to the other side of the room, the wad of paper following. He hated the Frost Giants. They reminded him of everything that was a lie in his life. Oh, how he wished he had succeeded in destroying their realm. He could have rebuilt it, in his name.

Loki flopped down on his bed and glowered at the ceiling. Dwelling on all those he hated and what could have been was beginning to make him restless. It would do no good thinking of these things. Instead, he started thinking of ways to get inside Waverly's head. She was a SHIELD agent and Hawkeye's sister so she surely would be trained to recognize his tricks. But, the fact that she was Hawkeye's sister could be used to his advantage. Loki wracked his brain, trying to remember what he had seen in Clint's subconscious. Waverly was present nearly was much as that Black Widow character. Agent Romanoff. Now she would be one to get in a verbal sparing match with. She was a master manipulator. This girl, Waverly, was just that. A girl. A child. The way she cared for her brother would be her downfall.

* * *

Waverly had grown bored. She had been in Asgard only two days and already she was restless. There was just nothing to _do_ here. Well, nothing for a human girl to do. The games in her phone had grown boring and whatever Tony did to make the battery have an indefinite battery life made the phone warm in her hands. Waverly briefly thought of returning to Loki's room to find something from his childhood to blackmail him with, but she doubted she could find his room again. And the place freaked her out.

After sitting on her bed, staring at the ceiling, Waverly decided to explore the palace more. Thor probably wouldn't be happy with this and Waverly would surely get lost. But these were gods! They must have the power to be able to find her if she went missing. Waverly took a piece of parchment from the drawer of her bedside table and scrawled Thor a quick note. _I was bored so I went looking around. I'll try not to get lost._ Due to the lack of tape in this realm, Waverly slipped the note in the crack of her bedroom door, right above the door handle.

Waverly took off into the palace. There must be something here for her to find entertaining. A library, _something._ Waverly's wanderings took her to a part of the palace she had never been in. It was quiet here. She could hear hushed voices coming from a room to her left.

Waverly had the feeling that this conversation wasn't for her to hear, but she crept to the door anyway. She placed her head against the cool wood and listened.

"I am afraid that your father has not recovered from his last Odinsleep. I fear any amount of stress will cause him to fall once again into the sleep." Waverly recognized that voices. It was Thor's mother. What was her name? Oh yeah, Frigga.

Thor's deep voice responded. "Then he should not worry himself about Loki. I will try and talk reason into him."

There was a pause and Frigga spoke even more quietly. "Once the other realms had learned of your brother's deeds, they called for his blood." Waverly could tell the words pained Frigga. "I know what Loki has done is nearly unforgivable, but he is still my son. He is still your brother."

"I know, Mother." Thor suddenly sounded hundreds of years old. He probably is, Waverly reminded herself. "I have been trying to get him to reconcile for his actions. It will take some time."

_So,_ Waverly thought,_ the other realms want Reindeer Games dead just as much as I do. How 'bout that?_

Waverly snapped her attention back to Thor's conversation with his mother at the sound of her name.

"The Lady Waverly would be good for him. I can see the way he looks at her." That was Thor. Waverly's nose scrunched up and she made a disgusted face. _What in the hell is he talking about?_ Thor continued. "He sees her as somewhat of an intellectual equal. She has a tongue almost as silver as his." At this, Waverly had to smile. But, Loki thinking of her as an equal; that was laughable.

Suddenly, Waverly's phone vibrated in her pocket. She was leaning on the door so the sound resonated around the hall. "Shit!" Waverly hissed. She sprang from her kneeling position on the floor and sprinted from the corridor before Thor or his mother could investigate.

Waverly was glad her hurried escape took her back to a part of the palace she recognized. She would be able to find her room from here. As she walked, she thought about what she had overheard. Odin was not doing well. That was sad to hear but really didn't affect Waverly's situation at all. The other realms wanted Loki dead for his crimes. That made Waverly feel warm and fuzzy inside. Frigga and Thor were trying to get Loki to feel sorry for what he had done. _Fat chance of that happening._ And then, that last part of the discussion. Waverly wished her phone hadn't vibrated. She wanted to know what Thor meant by the phrase "good for him." Good for Loki how? As a friend? _Yeah right. I'd kill myself. _As a lover? _Oh god. I'd kill myself, bring myself back to life, then kill myself again. _Or maybe Thor meant Waverly could manipulate Loki into apologizing for what he had done so the other realms would forgive him. Waverly laughed out loud. _No way in hell I'd do that. If people want him dead, I'll be the first to jump on board with that._

Waverly had returned to her room. She took her message to Thor from the door and crumpled it up. Upon entering her room, she noticed someone had been in to tidy up. Her bed was made and the clothes she had tossed on the floor were folded and placed back in the wardrobe. A fresh pitcher of water was placed on the bedside table and the washroom was cleaned up. A steaming bath was waiting for Waverly.

Waverly eager stripped down and climbed in the massive bath tub. She wondered how Asgardians had warm water when no signs of plumbing could be seen in the palace. Magic probably. The bath soothed her. She was soon clean and relaxed; her mind clear for a wonderful dinner and an evening of messing with the god of mischief.

Waverly dressed nicely for dinner, as Thor had suggested when she first arrived in Asgard. She wore a simple black skirt that fell to just above her knees, shiny black flats, and an emerald green blouse. She let her hair fall in its usual wavy curtain and awaited her escort for dinner.

While she waited, she checked her phone, finally remembering that it had vibrated earlier. It was a text. From Steve Rogers. Waverly's stomach twisted uncomfortably. So, Steve learned to text. If she wasn't here keeping an eye on Loki, Waverly's job would be to help Steve adjust to his new life in the 21st Century. She opened the message and looked at it.

'Good evening ma'am. Your brother has showed me this texting thing. Could you please explain to me what the phrase "omg" means? Clint won't tell me and he's finding my situation humorous.'

Waverly laughed. She quickly texted back, avoiding her usual shorthand so Steve would understand. 'Omg means oh my god. It's a common acronym used by teenage girls.'

Not long after, there was a knock at the door. Waverly opened it to see a woman who could be no older than herself standing before her. Well, she probably wasn't 20. More like 120. By her dress, Waverly could tell this was a maid.

"I am here to escort you to dinner, miss."

Waverly nodded. "Thank you. Lead the way."

Dinner was particularly uneventful, though Waverly couldn't help notice how tired Odin looked. She tried to avoid looking at the Allfather and instead shifted her gaze to Thor. If the god of thunder intended to use her to convince his brother to repent, Thor showed no signs of it this evening. Waverly did notice that Frigga and Thor were exchanging glances with each other and they were looking at Waverly with a somewhat pleased expression.

That's when Waverly realized. She was dressed in black and green; Loki's usual mode of dress. She groaned to herself. _Ugh. Leave it to me to be an idiot._ Surely Thor must think this garb would make it easier for Loki to be manipulated by Waverly.

Dinner had finished and Waverly crossed the hall to grab Loki's tray. Thor stepped up to accompany her but Waverly nodded her head. She didn't feel like becoming a pawn.

"I can find it myself. I'll be fine." She left the room and began the now familiar trek to the dungeons.

* * *

Loki watched as Waverly sat at his table, once again. She was watching him with her deep brown eyes. She would be attractive really, if she wasn't mortal. Green suited her. Finally, Loki rose and walked over to the table. He took the lid off his tray and began eating.

"For the record, I most certainly do not enjoy loogies," he said. Waverly's lips twisted up in a smile.

"What are you doing here anyway?" Loki continued. He carried his tray to his bed and began eating dinner there since Waverly was obviously not moving.

"For a god you sure are dim," she said. "I've told you how many times?"

"Yes, yes, I know. Fury sent you. Revenge for your brother. All that." Loki sliced through his roast pig, looking at Waverly over the top of his knife. "I mean why do you come in here and sit like we are acquaintances."

Waverly's smiled widened. "It makes you uncomfortable."

"Does not."

"They why bring it up?"

Loki scowled. Changing the subject, he asked, "If I was say, imprisoned on Earth with your precious SHIELD, what would your job be then?"

Waverly shrugged. "Probably helping Steve adjust to his new life."

"Ah yes, the man out of time."

"He may be out of time but he's significantly more pleasant to be around than you are."

"So," Loki continued. He drank deeply from his glass of wine. "You chose to babysit me, a man you despise, instead of helping the wonderful Captain America."

"Pretty much," Waverly confirmed. "Like I said, I'm pretty pissed about what you did to my brother, you douche bag."

"What?" Obviously 'douche bag' was some type of Midgardian insult, but one Loki had not heard before. Asshole, jackass, bastard, he had heard all those; knew their meanings. This one was foreign to him.

Waverly thought about explaining what a douche bag was but changed her mind. "Forget it. It just means you're an ass. Speaking of asses, I was in your room today."

This surprised Loki and also infuriated him. A mortal, in his room, pawing around his spell books! "You think that a wise decision?" He asked coldly. "I do not take kindly to people, especially humans like you, rummaging through my belongings."

Waverly shrugged. "It was an accident. There was a _lovely_ portrait of you and your family. Though, Thor seemed to make up most of the picture."

Loki rolled his eyes. Thor outshined him, even in his own room. Loki had wanted to destroy that portrait so many times. Once he got out of this cell, that would be the second thing he demolished, after this insolent brat.

Waverly continued. "I played pin the tail on the donkey with it."

Again, Loki was confused by her human talk. Donkeys already had tails, why was she pinning more on them? Then, he realized she had let the foul beasts into his room. Surely they had made a mess and the place now smelled like a barn. "You did what?"

"Pin the tail on the donkey. You've never heard of it?"

Loki shook his head. "You let those filthy beasts into my room?" Loki was furious. He watched Waverly with contempt as she laughed.

"It's a game kids play at parties," she explained. "They take turns trying to pin a tail onto a picture of a donkey while blindfolded. Your face, yeah I used that as the donkey's ass. So you were the ass of an ass." Waverly laughed at her own lame joke. "How does that make you feel?"

Loki smiled evilly. "Oh, it makes me feel all, how do you Midgardians put it, all warm and fuzzy inside?"

Waverly looked at him, confused.

"You see, my dear," Loki rose from the bed. He placed his empty tray in Waverly's lap and put the silver lid back on top. "With every sarcastic remark you make, every joke at my expense, every insolent little word that comes out of your pathetic little mouth, I come up with a new way to torture you, to kill you, to make _you_ squirm. So continue with your games. You will regret doing so."


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: I know a bunch of you have favorited this story or added it to your alerts, and thanks for that. But pleaaaaase review! Please? So, here's chapter 4. The bit about Odin dying and Loki getting his powers back, I have no idea if that's the sort of thing that could happen, I made it up so... Also, bonus points if you know what Loki'd means! =]**

**I own nothing!**

Chapter Four:

"God, Loki." Waverly said, rolling her eyes. "You are so dramatic." Waverly rose from Loki's chair and went to sit next to the god on his bed. She was determined to figure out this "look" she had heard Thor discussing with his mother earlier that day. So far, all Waverly could get out of Loki was that he hated her guts. Which was fine by her. The feeling was mutual.

With one eyebrow cocked in surprise, Loki looked down at Waverly. "And you are stupid."

Waverly laughed. "I'm not afraid of you, Loki." She inched closer to him and started munching on bits of his dinner he had not touched.

Loki shook his head. "You are infuriating." He picked up his tray and moved to the table. "You can leave now."

Waverly shook her head. "I think you're getting our roles confused again. You are the one in jail. I am the one who's free. I can do what I want. You, well, all you can do is sit in your cage like a good boy and maybe Thor will let you out to play fetch."

Waverly looked across the room at Loki. His expression was different than when he had first laid eyes on her. There was amusement there, even if it was hidden behind layers of evil thoughts. But, thinking of her as his equal? Loki showed no signs of that. He still looked down on her, spoke in that condescending tone, looked at her as if she was something vile he had dragged in on the bottom of his shoe.

Currently, Loki was buttering a piece of thick bread that Waverly had ripped the corner off of. He was looking intently at the SHIELD agent. Waverly shivered slightly under his gaze. His lips tilted up in an evil smile.

"Cold, my dear?" He asked. You could feel the sarcasm.

"No. God, just stop staring at me. You're freaking me out."

"You can leave."

"I'm bored." Waverly made sure to whine as much as possible. She even stamped her foot like a two-year-old. She smiled with satisfaction upon seeing Loki's head visibly throbbing with annoyance.

"I see. You are bored. So, that means you must come down here and be an agonizing pain in my neck?" Loki closed his eyes and rubbed his temples.

"Yup!" Waverly said brightly. She liked how Loki's face drained of color any time anyone sounded at all cheerful. His face was paper white at the moment. "What part of revenge don't you get?" Waverly asked this in a high pitched, sing-song voice.

"Oh for the love of Odin," Loki mumbled. He dropped his head into his hands and attempted to will Waverly out of his cell.

"So you do love your daddy!"

"So help me Waverly I will kill you with my bare hands."

"You don't have bear hands. You're a dude." Waverly forced herself not to laugh. Loki was shaking with frustration. She briefly wondered if she was pushing this "annoy Loki" thing too far. _Well, I'm not dead yet. If he hasn't killed me yet, he isn't going to._

Loki dropped his head to the table with a "thunk" and groaned. "What in the name of Asgard is a 'dude'?"

"Guy, man, male companion, bro."

"Will you shut it?"

"Nope."

Loki lifted his head from the table and looked at Waverly. The look of exasperation in his eyes made her giddy. This was going to be a fun night.

* * *

_This is going to be a long night,_ Loki thought. He tried tuning Waverly out. That didn't work, his stone cell merely caused her voice to echo around his head. He ignored her, but when he did that, she screamed at him until he responded. He tried humoring her, playing along with her antics. That only increased her nonsense. He tried threatening. All that got him were some very flattering new nicknames. Finally, he just tried to be pleasant. Loki couldn't remember the last time he had had a pleasant conversation with anyone. He supposed it was probably Thor he had spoken with but it must have been ages ago. It nearly caused him physical pain to be nice to this wretch. Loki got himself through the night by imagining all the ways he could kill her, just with his "bear" hands.

"You're idea of revenge is to annoy me to tears?" Loki asked in a rather civil voice.

"Pretty much."

"Why don't you just shoot me and get it over with?" Surely the SHIELD agent had a gun tucked somewhere in the folds of her clothing.

"I have orders. I'm only supposed to keep an eye on you." Ah, so that's why she hadn't tried to kill him.

"I know you're not an Asgardian maid, why do you continue to bring me my food?" Loki was sitting in his chair, his elbow propped on the table top, holding up his aching head. The human girl was sprawled on his bed, her feet resting on the headboard. _Great, _Loki thought,_ now I'll have to burn my bed._

"Gives me something to do. Besides, that way I get to look in on you three times a day. Make sure you aren't trying anything sneaky."

"With what," Loki asked sarcastically, "My pillow and a storybook? Are all humans so incompetent?"

"Not all of them. Especially not the Avengers. And SHIELD too. I mean, they were smart enough to kick your ass… well, then again, I'm sure a monkey with a handgun could do you in." Waverly shifted her position so that she was sitting cross-legged on Loki's bed. _Now the human has her nasty little feet all over my bed._

"I'll make you a deal, _agent_. Once I am free of this prison and have my magic restored to me, let's have a go. We'll see who comes out on top." Loki smiled menacingly as he imagined an army of Loki illusions all stabbing Waverly with their spears.

"Yeah. How 'bout no? Let's get my brother here and then you can have a go with him."

Loki opened his mouth to respond when a buzzing filled the room. He looked around curiously. "What is that blasted noise?"

"It's a cell phone, Loki. Don't get your panties in a bunch." Loki watched as Waverly pulled some small rectangular object out from the pocket of her skirt. It was black and gleamed lightly. The human fiddled around with a few buttons for a moment, then looked back up at the god. "Speak of my brother." Waverly's mouth was twisted in a mischievous little smirk. It might actually look pretty on her, if it wasn't full of such hate.

"Your brother?"

"Yeah. See… this is a phone." Waverly spoke slowly, as if teaching a lesson to a child. She held the phone out so Loki could see. "These are called 'con-tacts.' You can call them, which means you hear their voice through this," she tapped the top of the phone, "Or you can text them which is basically sending them a picture of words for them to read."

"Oh, I'm not completely stupid," Loki said angrily. "I know some of what you humans call technology. It is a waste in my opinion. Magic is much more efficient."

"Your brother once said magic and science are one in the same here." Waverly pointed out.

"My brother says a lot of things, Miss Barton. What did the weak minded hawk want?"

Waverly's smirk was back on her face. She glanced back down at her phone then up at Loki. "He says, and I quote, 'If the bastard steps out of line again, don't forget to kick him in the balls. And tell him I'll be up there with a flaming arrow to shoot up his ass,' end quote."

"Kick my what?" Loki asked, once again unfamiliar with her Earth speak.

Waverly's face turned a brilliant shade of red. "Oh god," she mumbled. "I am _not_ explaining what balls are to you." With that, Waverly rose from Loki's bed, grabbed his empty tray, and left the room.

Loki made a note to himself to bring up whatever balls were the next time Waverly got annoying, which would no doubt be the second she reentered his cell. Whatever these "balls" were, they made the human girl very uncomfortable.

* * *

Loki stood looking at himself in the small, round mirror on the wall of his cell. He had lost all his powers when his so called father took his magic from him. But, he could still shift into his Frost Giant form. Loki watched as his skin turned blue and his eyes became orange. God, he hated himself like this. Frost Giants were ugly creatures. Loki shifted back to his Asgardian form. Much better. His ability to still turn into a Frost Giant may still be of use to him. He doubted Waverly knew of his true form. Becoming a Frost Giant in front of her may prove to be fun.

Turning away from his mirror, Loki crossed the small span of cell to his bed. He was growing quite bored in this infernal cage. Loki lied on the bed with his arms folded across his stomach. What he wouldn't give for just a little bit of his magic. He didn't necessarily need enough to break himself out, just enough to keep himself occupied for awhile. Before he escaped, he needed to think of a plan. He would have to gain his magic back from Odin, find his beloved spear, and then go from there. Strike that. He would need to kill Waverly, then get his magic, then his spear.

Every time he thought of that human girl, he could feel his cheeks redden with anger. He hated her nearly as much as Odin and Thor but not as much as the Avengers. At least they could be controlled and he could use their various skill sets to his pleasure. Waverly was just a silly little girl with an attitude and a big mouth. For Odin's sake, even that arrogant billionaire, Stark, would be a better sidekick than her.

Enough of the girl. She was taking up too much of his thoughts. Back to scheming. Now, when he got out of this cell, he would hunt his father down and kill him. Odin would never surrender Loki's magic back to him, but if he was killed, then Loki's magic would return to him. Once he had his magic, it would be easy to find his spear. That Black Widow probably still had it. He'd kill her too if he had to.

But then what? He couldn't go back to the Chituari. Most of them had died after Stark sent that nuclear bomb through the portal. The remaining Chituari probably wouldn't be pleased to see Loki again. Loki would need to find himself a new army. Earth was still the most probable place. Humans may be weak and powerless but they craved subjugation. They wanted a leader. They needed to kneel down before someone more powerful than themselves. Loki would be that person. And once he was, he'd have roughly six billion people to use as soldiers to take over the rest of the nine realms. And then, Loki smiled, let's take it one step at a time.

First, how to get out of this blasted prison. As much as Loki disliked, no hated, no _despised _the idea, his best chance of escape would revolve around the human wretch. She came to visit so often, had lost her fear of him, she's the perfect pawn to plan his escape. Waverly would be wise to his tricks so he'd have to plan this carefully.

* * *

"Where's your father?" Waverly asked. She was seated next to Thor at the large table in the dining room. The table was emptier than usual. Odin and Frigga were not present and many of the usual meal time guests had simply come for a glass of juice before going about their day.

"He is not feeling well," Thor said. "Bed rest is what he needs. My mother is tending to him." Waverly thought back to the conversation she had heard the day before. Odin must be doing worse than she thought.

"I hope he feels better," Waverly said.

Thor nodded. "Today is an important day. My father is most upset that he has to stay in bed."

"What's today?"

"Our council is meeting to discuss the repair of the Bifrost."

Waverly nodded. The term sounded familiar but she couldn't quite place what Thor was talking about. Thor noticed her confused expression. "The bridge connecting the realms," he added. "Now that we have the Tesseract, repairing the bridge may be quite possible."

Waverly finished up her breakfast. "Well, I hope that works out for you." The SHIELD agent rose from her chair and crossed the dining room to the door leading to the kitchens. A main was waiting with Loki's meal on the usual silver platter. Waverly took the dish and as she passed Thor, the god of thunder stopped her.

"How are things fairing with my brother?"

Waverly stopped and her mind flashed back to the conversation she had overheard. _The Lady Waverly would be good for him._ Ugh. Thor was apparently starting this "use-Waverly-to-get-Loki-to-feel-sorry-for-what-he-did" thing.

"Things are fine," Waverly said. If fine meant driving each other mad with insults and nearly killing each other on a daily basis.

Thor nodded. "Has my brother," Thor's eyes scanned the ceiling as he thought for a word, "become accepting of you yet?"

Waverly laughed. "He tells me every time I open my mouth, he's imagining a new way to kill me. So, you tell me." With that, Waverly left Thor to finish his meal.

As Waverly made the long walk to the dungeons, she couldn't help but feel a nervous knot in her stomach. She really didn't like the idea of sucking up to Loki, but a part of her thought this might be a good thing. From what she knew, from what Clint had told her, Loki was mad powerful. And he was wicked smart. He'd be a highly valuable asset for the Avengers Initiative. If Waverly was indeed "good for Loki" as Thor had said, maybe she should try and convince him to repent for what he had done. Maybe, if Loki did regard her as an intellectual equal, she could convince him to change sides. He could protect Earth instead of trying to enslave it. If Loki was good, Waverly wouldn't have to worry about him controlling her brother every again. But would Loki turn good? If Waverly got close enough to him, would Thor's scheme work?

One step at a time, Waverly told herself. _As much as it's going to kill you, try and be pleasant with Loki today_. Waverly had reached Loki's cell door. God, this was going to be hard.

* * *

Loki was surprised when Waverly knocked before entering his cell. Normally she just barged in, commenting on how such an evil criminal didn't need his privacy.

"Decided to have manners now, have we?" Loki asked. He watched as Waverly set his tray on the table and then… prepared his meal for him? She poured him juice from the jug, laid his fork on the napkin, and buttered his toast. _What in all of Asgard?_

Waverly shrugged. "I just didn't want to walk in on you… exposed or anything."

Loki's lips twitched in a smile. "The assassin's little sister is shy, is she?"

"No! I just don't want to see you naked. God, creeper."

Loki rolled his eyes. He rose from his bed and sat at the table. Waverly leaned against the wall next to him. "Why did you lay this out? Did you poison it or something? Because as a god, I am immune to most toxins."

"I'm not allowed to poison your food. No matter how much I want to. I have my orders." Waverly slid down to sit on the floor. She looked up at Loki. "So, gods are immune to poison?"

"Most poisons. There are toxins at the far reaches of several of the realms that can do a god in. But they are few and far between." Loki turned in his chair so he was facing the girl. Over the rim of his glass, he said, "And I assure you, there are none on Asgard."

"Damn." Waverly said. "Guess I'll have to kill you some other way."

"Yes. Perhaps you could irritate me to death."

"Sounds like fun." Waverly smiled that mischievous smile that would be oh so pretty if she wasn't a disgusting little mortal. Then, Loki watched as she took in a breath and began to sing. "It's a small world after all. It's a small world after all. It's a small, small world." This was then repeated for the next ten minutes.

Finally, Loki snapped. Holding his head in his hands, the god pleaded, "For the sake of everything holy in this realm and yours, please stop." Waverly sang louder. Then, Loki remembered. "How about, instead of singing what ever it is you're singing, you explain to me what balls are?"

Waverly's face flushed red and she instantly stopped singing. "All right fine, I'll stop. You pick something to talk about."

"I did. Explain to me what balls are."

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

Taking a page out of the girl's book, Loki stamped a foot. He was having trouble holding back his evil grin. "Waverly!" He yelled. "What. Are. Balls?"

"Oh shut up!" Waverly yelled. "They're male reproductive organs. Happy?"

Ah. So that's why the subject made Waverly uncomfortable. "Well, now that I know what balls are, I must ask you to refrain from kicking me in them. It is rather uncomfortable."

"Fine. Just quit talking about it."

"All right." Loki turned from the girl and finished his meal without another word from her. When he had finished, he found her watching him out of the corner of her eye. He decided now would be a good time to become a Frost Giant.

In eerie silence, Loki's skin became an icy blue. His eyes gleamed orange and the very air around him became cold. Waverly shivered and looked up at him.

"Hey, did it just get – holy shit!" Waverly's eyes grew to the size of saucers and she scuttled backward, away from Loki. "What the hell?"

Loki laughed. As a Frost Giant, it was a deep, guttural laugh that sent chills down Waverly's spine that had nothing to do with the cold. And then, just like that, Loki was back in his Asgardian form; laughing his usual laugh, smiling his usual wicked smile.

"What on Earth was that?" Waverly yelled at him.

"My dear," Loki said, sarcasm dripping from his lips, "You are not on Earth."

"Fine. What on _Asgard _was that?"

"Ask my brother. See if he'll tell you."

"Ohmy god you are irritating." Waverly rolled her eyes. She picked up Loki's tray and turned to the door. Now, the evil little smile was on her lips. "Ya know what just happened there?"

"What?" Loki asked. Confusion was written all over his face. He just scared Waverly senseless yet she still thought she was the one on top?

"I just got Loki'd." Waverly snickered.

"Excuse me? Got what?" Loki swore she said 'Loki'd.' As if his name was some type of verb; some action that could be performed.

"Ah, you don't know what that is do you?" Waverly's smiled widened. "Well, I'll leave you alone so you can figure it out."

Loki glared at the door as it shut behind Waverly.


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: So, I had an idea that I think will be interesting later on in the story so I'm hinting at it here. Just so everyone's clear, Waverly is not a Frost Giant but she isn't Clint's real sister either. I'm don't know about this chapter but I didn't know how else to write it. I'm also starting to hint at the Loki/OC thing so that'll start showing up. Please review!**

**I own nothing.**

Chapter Five:

Days soon turned into weeks and soon Waverly had been on Asgard for a full month of Earth time. Over this time frame, Waverly had fed Loki, three times a day and reported his unchanging status to Directory Fury once a day. Eventually, this grew tiresome. It was decided then that Waverly would only have to report to SHIELD once a week, or if something happened with the god of mischief. Still, the young agent brought Loki all his meals. She was just so bored here. Asgard was a beautiful place; it was breathtaking really. But Waverly was so lost and alone here. She didn't understand any of the traditions in this realm and no one understood her. Thor did, but he was so busy being king and all. So, Waverly kept visiting Loki, if just for something to do.

Not all days went well. They still hated each other. Needless to say there had been a few instances of ball kicking and throat grabbing. Some days, Waverly would just drop Loki's food inside his door and leave him alone. But soon, the god and human began to tolerate each other. Annoying each other became tiresome as well. Soon, they were actually having decent conversations. Neither were happy with this arrangement but since Loki was a prisoner and Waverly didn't have anyone, the arrangement suited them.

Thor hadn't approached Waverly concerning the whole "get-Loki-to-repent" thing, so Waverly had stopped worrying about it. Thor's energies seemed dedicated to the Bifrost at the moment. All though, Waverly overheard enough conversations to know that Loki was still an issue with the other realms. Everyone was pretty much still pissed off at him.

* * *

Loki laid in his bed. He had no idea what time of day it was but he knew he should be sleeping right now. It had been hours since Waverly brought him his dinner but he could not sleep. Loki rolled over and tossed his blanket off of him. He stood and began pacing his cell. The night air was cool against his bare chest. Hands behind his back, Loki paced, thinking. It was dark, but the god knew his cell like the back of his hand.

Restless had grasped him again. He had been growing too comfortable with the human wretch. He needed to start forming his escape. But how? For the life of him, he could not think of a ruse that she would believe. Oh how he wished he had his silver tongue back.

Eventually, Loki's pacing stopped and he slumped back on his bed. For some reason, he could not concentrate when his mind was preoccupied with the human. He couldn't form a proper plan this late at night in this distracted state. Finally, sleep over came the god and he fell asleep in the wee hours of the morning.

* * *

Waverly looked through her closet looking for something to wear. She really didn't know why she bothered, there was no one here to impress. The only one she saw on a regular basis was Loki and she sure as hell wasn't trying to look pretty for him. Finally she decided on a pair of jeans, a black tank-top with lace fringe, and her combat boots.

Looking at herself in the mirror, Waverly thought, _what I wouldn't do for a hair straightener. _Pulling her hair back in a loose pony-tail, Waverly left the room and went to breakfast. She no longer needed an escort and knew the palace pretty well.

Once in the dining hall, Waverly was surprised to see Thor present. He had not eaten in the dining room since the morning he first mentioned repairing the Bifrost. Happy to finally have someone other than Loki to talk to, Waverly sat next to the god of thunder.

"How's the Bifrost thing going?" She asked.

Thor looked up from his eggs. "Quite well. It looks like the bridge may be prepared in another few weeks."

Waverly nodded. "That's good."

"All though," Thor said, "The other realms feel we have been too lenient with Loki. If we repair the bridge, we may face an invasion. The Frost Giants are particularly restless."

"Frost Giants?"

Thor chuckled. "Lady Barton, I forget how much you do not know about the realms besides Earth. The Frost Giants hail from a realm called Jotunheim. They are foul beasts; always craving war."

"What is a Frost Giant?" Waverly asked.

"What the name implies. Standing eight, nine, some even ten feet tall. They have blue skin and glowing orange eyes. If a Frost Giant touches you, you'll become a statue of ice."

Waverly's fork clattered to the floor and her mouth dropped. Thor looked at her, confused. Waverly swallowed asked in a shaky voice, "Your brother… is he a… is he one of those?"

Thor's head tilted to the side. "How do you know of this?"

"Loki turned himself into, well pretty much what you just said. When I asked him what he did, he said ask you."

Thor sat silent for a moment. It couldn't hurt to tell Waverly his brother's true story. After all, she was the one keeping an eye on him. She should probably know what she was dealing with. "Yes. Loki is a Frost Giant." And so, Thor told Waverly the story of how Loki came to Asgard.

"Is that why he's evil?" Waverly asked.

Thor sighed. "I do not know, young Waverly. Loki is emotionally unstable to say the least. He feels he has lived his whole life in my shadow. The story of his true heritage confirmed that for him. Loki has always been one for pranks and mischief, but he was never, as you say, evil when we were children."

Waverly nodded thoughtfully. Loki, the unloved son. Adopted. Living in his brother's shadow. Well, it made a hell of a lot more sense now. No wonder Loki was so twisted. Then again, Waverly thought, that shouldn't matter. There are many people who are adopted and they don't run around trying to take over entire races of people.

"I must go now, Waverly," Thor said, snapping Waverly from her thoughts. "I must ask that you do not talk about this subject with my brother. I do not think he will take kindly to it."

Waverly nodded. After Thor left, she retrieved the tray for Loki. As she trekked down to his cell, her mind swam with thoughts. So, these Frost Giants want to come to Asgard because they aren't pleased with Loki's punishment. But Loki is one of them. Maybe they mean to come here, free him, and bring him home? And what would happen to her if a war began on Asgard? Waverly didn't even want to think about it. But, Thor still thought repairing the Bifrost was a good idea so that was reassuring. Waverly knew Thor told her not to discuss the subject of Loki's true parentage, but she was just so intrigued. If he was a Frost Giant, why did he look normal most of the time? Was that magic? He was supposed to have all his magic taken from him.

Waverly was so consumed in her thoughts, she didn't even knock on the door. She let herself in Loki's cell and promptly dropped his tray in surprise. "Oh god!"

* * *

Loki was woken by the sound of a metal tray clattering to the floor and a shout of "Oh god!" He jolted up in bed, instantly alert. Loki's eyes fell on Waverly just inside the door way, the cell door still ajar. Her face was scarlet red and his tray of food was lying at her feet.

"Don't just sit there, put some clothes on!" Waverly turned away from Loki and started to pick up his food.

Loki smiled evilly. Looking down at himself, he realized he was still shirtless, having slept so long into the morning. Apparently, Waverly was indeed a shy little thing. "This form does not please you?" He asked mockingly.

Loki watched Waverly turn her head in the slightest towards him. "I… what?"

Loki laughed. "Agent Barton has never seen a man with out a shirt?"

"Oh for crying out loud," Waverly said, exasperated. "Of course I have! I just don't want to see you."

Loki's twisted smile grew an inch as a sudden though struck him. Agent Barton was so flustered, it would be easy to slip past her, especially if she was frozen. "Well, does this form suit you better?" He crept up behind Waverly and turned into his Frost Giant form. Waverly turned and looked at him. While he was blue, it didn't seem so odd, seeing him half clothed. Waverly was actually glad he had turned into a Frost Giant. Now she could confront him about his past.

"Yes, actually," Waverly said, the flush fading from her cheeks. "I have some questions about that little trick."

Loki stood inches from Waverly. "Have you now?" He lifted a blue finger and began to trace the outline of Waverly's face. She shuddered under his touch and her skin became icy cold, but she did not freeze. Loki looked at her curiously. _That should have worked._ Loki tried using his other hand. Nothing. _What in Odin's name? Why can I not freeze this pathetic little human?_ Loki knew he was small by Frost Giant standards, but he had always assumed his powers of freezing worked the same. After all, when he was attacked by a Frost Giant on Jotunheim, had he not resisted being frozen? There is no way Waverly could be a Frost Giant like himself. Loki backed away from Waverly and turned back into his usual pale self.

"What's the matter?" Waverly asked. The look of shock and confusion on Loki's face made her uncomfortable. She had never seen him like this.

"I… Nothing…" Loki turned from her and shrugged on his forest green shirt. He sat at the table, head in his hands, thinking. Maybe he couldn't freeze her because his magic was taken away. But, that didn't make sense. If he could still become a Frost Giant, surely he should retain his Frost Giant abilities. Then again, Loki had never tried to use them before. Maybe his lack of height also meant he had a lack of powers. But he had always thought, always assumed he could freeze people.

"So," Loki said. He had regained his composure. His mischievous smile was back on his face and he spoke with his usual arrogant drawl. Loki was humiliated with himself for appearing so weak in front of this human. "You had questions for me?"

_What just happened? Shouldn't I have been frozen?_ Waverly thought. "Um…" She picked up Loki's food and brought it to him. Then, sitting on the edge of his table, she asked, "Well yeah… what is it you're doing when you turn blue?" She knew the answer but wanted to hear Loki's explanation.

"I am turning into my true self," Loki said. He couldn't keep the resentment from his voice. As much as he wanted to use his Frost Giant powers to his advantage, he still hated his true form.

"A Frost Giant?" Waverly questioned cautiously.

"How do you know of the Frost Giants?"

"Thor told me."

Loki raised an eyebrow. "And what else did my brother tell you about me."

Waverly shrugged. "That I shouldn't talk to you about it."

"He thinks me unstable, doesn't he?"

Waverly had to laugh. "Yeah, that phrasing sounds familiar."

Loki snorted. "My brother is simple minded if he thinks I can not handle the truth about my past."

"Which is?" Waverly egged on.

Loki laughed. "What makes you think I'll share that with you, a mere mortal?" Loki shook his head, still laughing and began picking at his breakfast. Waverly remained silent beside him. Loki didn't care; he was deep in thought. If turning into a Frost Giant and freezing Waverly wouldn't get him out of his cell, he would have to form a new plan.

Waverly sat on the table top, watching Loki pick at his food. He was obviously deep in thought, but so was she. _Why couldn't he freeze me? Didn't Thor _just_ say that Frost Giants can freeze people?_ This whole thing confused Waverly. When Loki touched her, she was terrified she would b frozen, yet, nothing happened. Well not nothing; it felt like her face was plunged into a bucket of ice. In fact, it still tingled where he had touched her. And her stomach had practically done a somersault. Waverly figured that was due to the adrenalin pumping through her veins at the thought of being frozen alive. Finally, Waverly decided that Loki's inability to freeze her was due to his magic being taken away._ Yeah, that makes sense. Or maybe living on Asgard caused him to lose his Frost Giant abilities. I really wish I could get him to tell me about all that stuff._ Then, it hit Waverly. She had asked Thor if Loki's past was what had caused him to become evil. Thor had said he wasn't sure; so why not ask Loki himself.

When Loki finished his meal, he had only eaten a few bites of egg, Waverly watched as he stared intently at his nearly full plate. He was still lost in his own mind. He finally rose from his chair and sat on his bed, brows furrowed in thought. Waverly was intrigued. Clearly this whole almost-freezing-her incident was bugging the god of mischief as well.

"'Sup, dude?" She asked, if anything in an attempt to annoy him back to his usual cranky self.

Loki looked up, surprised Waverly was still in his cell, watching him. "I am just thinking, mortal. Do you humans not partake in that activity?" His lips twitched in a smirk.

"Yeah, well I've been thinking too," Waverly said. While Loki had been lost in thought, she had come up with a new way to wiggle the truth about Loki's past from him. "Why did you do what you did to my brother?" Waverly asked.

Loki looked at her. "What?" They hadn't spoke of Hawkeye for quite some time. Loki thought she finally dropped the idea of annoying him to death for revenge.

"Hawkeye. Why did you control his mind like that?"

"Why do you think I'll tell you?" Loki asked.

Waverly leaned back in Loki's chair, balancing on the back two legs. She propped her feet up on the table, a posture she had seen her brother take so many times. "I'm not leaving until you answer me."

Loki scowled and glared at the girl. He was silent for a moment. She couldn't possibly stay here all day.

"I'll wait all day, Loki. All night too if I have to." By the gods, she infuriated him.

Finally, "For the same reasons Director Fury recruited him for his little team," Loki answered mysteriously.

"Which are?" Waverly persisted.

"He is strong. A master assassin. He will fight with unwavering loyalty to his commander. I could continue. I simply took all the things that make him a hero and used them to do my bidding." Loki looked at Waverly with curiosity. She would not meet his eyes and she was gazing intently at her shoes. "All that I have done, all the people I have killed, yet you only focus on your brother? Why is that?"

Waverly's eyes shot up to Loki's face. "He's my brother," she said coldly. "He's the only one I have." Waverly's voice rose as all her pent up anger towards Loki was released. "He's the only one who cared for me and looked out for me and you took that away! You turned him into some kind of monster! He's the only one I got, okay? I'm not even his real sister. He found me when I was just a kid. Wandering around. I have no idea who my parents are or what happened to them. All I have is him! You took that from me!" Tears gathered at the corners of Waverly's eyes. She turned away from Loki so he would not see her cry. Her shoulders shook silently. She didn't mean to tell him her life story. She had only intended to use this conversation to manipulate Loki into telling her his. But, the way he spoke so causally about controlling her brother, turning him into a monster, it pissed her off. He made her so mad. Clint was still haunted by what he had done under Loki's control. He still had nightmares. Clint was back, but he wasn't the same brother Waverly had known for as long as she could remember.

Loki gazed at the mortal with a very unfamiliar and very uncomfortable feeling in the pit of his stomach. Was this remorse? Was the god of mischief actually feeling sorry for what he had done? Loki was furious with himself for feeling this way but he could not rid himself of this awful feeling. He knew what it was like; to have no one but your brother and then have even that taken away. Loki rarely apologized. In fact, he couldn't remember a time that he had. So, it was a shock when the words left his mouth. "I am sorry."

Waverly's silent sobs stopped in an instant. She turned her eyes to the god and looked at him coldly. "You're not sorry," she said in a low voice.

"Oh, but I am. I am truly sorry."

"You liar! Quit playing your sick games!" Waverly yelled. She sprang from the chair and stood in front of Loki, squaring her shoulders. She was about to punch him in his arrogant face.

"Do not call me a liar!" Now Loki was yelling.

"Oh, I can't call the god of _lies_ a liar?"

Loki stepped towards Waverly and she shrank back slightly."Listen mortal. I do not apologize often so believe me when I do. I too know what it is like to have your brother taken away from you."

Waverly waved a hand casually. "You still have Thor."

"No, you mewling quim, I do not." Loki took another step toward the girl. "When we were children, Thor was my companion, my best friend. We did everything together. As we grew older, I began to fall into his shadow. Everyone loved Thor. They worshiped him. I was nothing. My _father_ never loved me the way he loved Thor. And then, I come to find out, he isn't really my brother! I was adopted. And, I was the son of my so called father's enemy!" Loki was breathing heavily and his hands were clenched in fists. Waverly did not shrink away from him, but instead took a step closer.

"Is that why you did all those things?" She asked quietly.

"What?"

"Is that why you tried to take over Earth and killed all those people?" Waverly asked again. "Because of what Odin kept from you?" She was glad she had finally got to this point of their discussion, after all, that was what she was trying to do. But Loki looked so… pained. It was very weird, seeing him like that.

Loki whipped around so fast, the bottom of his hair brushed Waverly's face. "That is none of you concern, Miss Barton," he said coldly.

"Loki, you can tell me." Waverly responded. She took a step towards the god and gently placed a hand on his back. She wasn't sure why she was doing this. She hated him with every fiber of her being. He was cruel and evil. Yet, when he told his story, he had such pain in his eyes. It made Waverly's stomach flip-flop. She didn't know such a horrible person could show such emotion.

Loki turned his head and grabbed Waverly's hand with his icy cold one. He whipped back around and glared down at the girl. "Leave me." He commanded. "Go, now!"

Waverly wrenched her hand from Loki's. She looked at him for a second before walking to the door.

"And don't bother bringing me my meals tonight," Loki snapped at her back. "I have lost my appetite."

The door simply opened in response and the click of the lock echoed around Loki's cell. Once the god was sure Waverly was out of ear shot, he let out his pent up rage. "Argh!" Loki smashed the water basin in the corner of the room that was meant for him to clean his face. Water soaked his boots. Then looking up in the mirror, Loki saw his own reflection, glaring back at him with such hatred. Loki punched the mirror and it broke easily, though his hand was covered in cuts that were bleeding. Next, Loki's temper tantrum took him to the table where he kicked the tray of food to the floor.

Panting heavily, Loki slumped on his bed. He was angry with himself. He was furious. He hated himself for his outburst. He hated that he had apologized to Waverly. He hated that she caused so many _feelings_ to stir inside of him. And he hated that he was stupid enough to punch his mirror. His hand stung horribly. And then his stomach growled rather audibly. Now he was mad with himself for throwing his food on the floor. And he had told Waverly not to come back with more.

Loki rose from the bed and salvaged what he could from the ruined meal. The god half wished the mortal would disobey his orders and return anyway; he was still starving. Loki cleaned up his mess, placed it on the table, and returned to sulk in his bed.


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: I don't know if I like this chapter... oh well... something needed to happen to start the Loki/OC thing. I hope this chapter isn't too... mushy... lol. Thanks to all who reviewed! It makes me want to write more!**

**I own nothing!**

Chapter Six:

Loki had spent much of his day simply sulking on his bed. He did not let himself think, for fear of what his mind would bring to attention. This nonsense with the human girl; how he missed Thor; how talking to the human actually made him feel sorry for what he had done. For Odin's sake he hated himself for letting her make him feel these things.

It was around mid day when Loki heard the sounds of someone unlocking his cell door. He lifted his head off his pillow and propped it up with his hand. His hands were caked with dried blood. Loki actually felt sick when he saw Waverly enter his room. She did not look at him or say anything. She walked silently into the room at set a tray down on his table. When she turned to leave, she turned away from him so she would not have to look at him. Then, as quickly as she had arrived, she left.

Loki sighed and rose from his bed. He went to sit at the table. Lifting the lid off his tray, he noticed a folded piece of paper on top. He opened the paper and saw large, swirly letters. Instantly, Loki knew Waverly had written this. He read the note. _We were eating lunch. Thor mentioned it was your favorite. See, you still have your brother._

Loki dropped the note and rubbed his face with his hands. For the love of Odin he despised this human creature. What on all of Asgard possessed her to do this? Loki looked down at his lunch. Indeed, it was his favorite; roasted duck with orange sauce and a lush green salad. Rich red wine accompanied the meal. There was a nagging feeling in the pit of Loki's stomach that had nothing to do with his hunger.

All the humans he had manipulated, all the humans he had fought and killed, all the humans that opposed him, none of them had caused him to be at a loss. Waverly hated him, despised him, wanted him dead. He had controlled her brother, caused lasting psychological damage to Clint and Waverly, and physically abused the girl on several occasions. Why, _WHY, _in the name of everything holy had she done this?

Loki thought back to their conversation, well argument, from this morning. She had cried. The nagging feeling tugged harder at his gut. _What is this infernal… discomfort?_ He had seen his own pain reflected in Waverly's eyes as she told him her past. So, Clint was her brother, but only because he had taken her in. She had been abandoned or orphaned or _something_ and Clint had found her and raised her as his younger sister. Loki couldn't help but notice the similarities between himself and Waverly. Loki ran a hand through his hair and sighed in frustration. She was a human. They were nothing alike! He hated her. But, if he hated her, why did he feel… what was it… grateful that she had brought him this meal and made a note to mention it was his favorite. Thor had told her that. For some reason, the idea of Waverly and Thor discussing him made him feel even more uncomfortable.

_Stop this,_ Loki told himself. _It is this cell, this isolation. You aren't yourself. Once you are free from this prison, the girl will be out of your life and will not take up space in your mind._ Loki shut his eyes and let his head drop to the table. He couldn't deny this feeling. At that last thought, a sense of sadness washed over him.

* * *

-Several Hours Previously-

Waverly sat in her bed, the blankets wrapped around her. She still felt so cold after her encounter with Loki. She was crying but she wasn't quite sure why. Waverly was so mad at him! No one besides Clint and by association, Natasha, knew about her past. No one. And in less than five minutes he had caused her to divulge her secrets to him. And then, the pain in his eyes… Waverly knew that pain. She was too young to remember Clint taking her in, but when she was eighteen, just two years ago, Clint had told her the truth. She had spent many sleepless nights wondering about her parents. She had felt so alone during that time. Waverly had pushed Clint away but he had pushed his way back in. Clint may seem tough on the outside but Waverly knew he really did care about her. She also knew Thor felt that way about Loki. Loki looked… well he just look so _sad_ when he lost his temper earlier. He was a tragic character.

Waverly's sobs transitioned into quiet sniffles. She pulled her blankets closer to her. She felt sick. She really felt sick. She was mad that she told Loki her past and she was mad she felt sorry for him. Waverly was also confused as hell. Why had she reached out to him? Why did she want to comfort him? Waverly sighed and dropped to her pillows. And why was she upset that Loki had asked her not to come back today?_ Grrrr, he is sooooo irritating!_

Eventually, Waverly got bored sulking and feeling sorry for herself and the god of mischief. She rolled out of bed and cleaned herself up. Then she took off for the dining room. It was still a bit early for lunch, but she hoped Thor would be there. She wanted to talk to somebody to get her mind off Loki.

Maids were busy getting ready for the meal. They were laying out the crystal plates and goblets and shining the silver knives and forks. They didn't mind that Waverly was there, and let her sit in her usual seat.

Finally, Thor arrived. He noticed Waverly was upset right away. "Lady Barton?" He questioned in his thunderous voice. "Has my brother hurt you?"

Waverly shook her head. She looked up at Thor. The god of thunder instantly felt worried for the young agent. She looked so… upset. "If he hasn't hurt you, what is wrong?"

Waverly didn't quite know the answer to this question. She had intended to discuss anything _but_ Loki with Thor. Now, she wanted to tell him everything that had happened this morning. "Thor," She began quietly. "Did Clint ever tell you that I'm not really his sister?"

Thor shook his head. He sat down next to Waverly, confusion written all over his face.

"Well, it's true," Waverly continued. "I was too young to remember, but when I was around four years old, Clint found me. Just wandering the streets he said. He took me to SHIELD. They took a sample of my DNA and tried to find my parents. They came up with nothing, Thor. Nothing. Clint sort of took me in after that. That's why what Loki did to him affected me like it did. Clint is literally the only one I have." Waverly had dropped her gaze. She was tired of crying and seeing Thor's pain for her was bringing tears to her eyes.

"Thank you," Thor said, "For sharing this with me. But why is it bothering you? Why now?"

"I sort of did what you told me not to and asked Loki about the Frost Giant thing."

Thor was silent for a moment. He lifted Waverly's face to his with a finger. Waverly could see comprehension dawn on Thor's face. Looking straight into her eyes, he said, "Loki is and will always be my brother."

"You need to tell him that."

"I have. He does not listen to me."

Waverly opened her mouth to respond but other lunch guests had entered the dining room. The conversation dropped off and turned to a discussion of the Bifrost. When lunch was served, Thor looked sideways at Waverly. "This dish. It is my brother's favorite," he said quietly.

* * *

-Presently-

Waverly sat in her room. Thor had to leave immediately after lunch to continue with the repairs of the Bifrost. Waverly wished she had something to take her mind off Loki. She took a bath, she braided her hair, she doodled, she explored the palace. Nothing worked. Everything went back to Loki. The pain in his eyes. She knew that kind of pain. _That has GOT to be why he's done all those things._

Eventually, dinner time rolled around. Waverly didn't really feel hungry but she trekked to the dining room anyway. Thor was not present but his friends were. Waverly made small talk with them for a few moments before seeking out Loki's meal. She grabbed the tray with shaking hands. _Why am I nervous?_

* * *

Loki sat at his table, picking shards of glass from the many cuts on his hand. Fresh blood oozed from the wounds. Loki winced as he dug out a particularly large piece of mirror. He didn't hear his cell door open or Waverly walk in. He jumped when she set the tray on the table next to him. A human had only ever snuck up on him once before. Turning to look at Waverly, he saw her staring at his hands.

"Ugh," the girl said, her usual tone in place. "Let's clean this up." She reached out and grabbed his hand. Loki's eyes widened. Again, she had him at a loss for words. He let her silently lead him to his bed. He sat down and let her clean his cuts with his glass of water and his cloth napkin from his dinner.

Loki felt his heart thump against his chest. He couldn't bring himself to look at the girl but he felt her wide eyes staring at him. Her hands felt warm against his and soon, the bleeding and the stinging had ceased. Waverly was finished but she did not draw her hands from his right away. Loki finally looked up at her. That nagging feeling he had had all day was back. It was worse. He had never had a feeling like this before and it irritated him that he didn't know what it was.

"Better?" Waverly asked. And she actually sounded concerned.

Loki wasn't quite sure what happened or what came over him. He seized Waverly's face in his hands and kissed her. Her lips were soft and he felt her draw back at first, but then she leaned into him. The nagging in his stomach turned into warmth he had never felt before. He felt his heart pound even faster. As soon as it happened, Loki pulled away from the girl.

"I… I'm…" Loki stammered stupidly. "Leave. Leave now."

Waverly, eyes wide and mouth slightly open in surprise, backed off on his bed and to the door. She blindly fumbled with the door until she tripped back out into the hallway. The door closed and Loki heard the sound of running footsteps.

* * *

Waverly ran from the dungeon. She sprinted all the way back up to her room. After flinging her door open and slamming it shut, she collapsed on her bed. She was sobbing. After a good twenty minutes of just crying, Waverly pulled herself together enough to crawl under the blankets and bury her head. Tears still washed down her face. Her lips still tingled from where he had kissed her. She still felt the flush on her cheeks. Waverly had never hated him more than she did right now. And, she had never hated herself more than at this moment. Even though she hadn't eaten dinner, she felt a strong urge to vomit because, deep down, she had liked that kiss.

_Oh god. I don't know what to do. I'm so stupid!_ Waverly berated herself until the sky turned dark. Then, she could no longer stand it. She was too confused. She needed to talk to someone. Thor and Clint were for sure out of the question. Waverly scrolled through the contacts on her phone. She selected a number.

"Agent Romanoff," she heard on the second ring.

"Nat… It's… it's Waverly." Tears started flowing again.

"Yes, I know it's you." Natasha's voice lost its usual sternness. "Waverly, are you all right?"

"No."

"What's wrong? Did Loki hurt you?"

"Natasha, if I tell you something, will you promise not to tell anyone, especially Clint?" Waverly asked knowing full well that Natasha could keep a secret. But she also knew Natasha was practically married to her job and would most likely tell Director Fury about any situation involving Loki.

Natasha's spy senses went off the charts. "What is it, Waverly?"

"Promise not to tell?"

"All right. I promise. Unless it will compromise SHIELD or the Avengers."

Waverly took a breath. She didn't think this could possibly compromise SHIELD. And the only Avenger it would affect would be her brother. He'd be pissed as hell. Finally, in a low, trembling voice, Waverly said, "Natasha, Loki… Loki kissed me. And I think… I think I liked it." The sobbing returned.

The other line was silent for a moment. Waverly only heard her own sobs reflected back to her. She waited desperately for Natasha to say something, _anything_.

"He is manipulating you," Natasha said. Her level interrogation voice was back.

Waverly choked down another sob. "But he isn't. Odin took his powers from him."

Another silence. Then, "Was it good?"

Waverly laughed despite the situation. She felt her cheeks redden. "I… I don't…"

Natasha laughed as well, a sound few people heard. "Waverly, things like this happen." Natasha's voice was soft and what Waverly assumed to be motherly. It was comforting. "You know, your brother was sent to kill me. He made a different call. We were once on opposite sides."

"But you weren't evil," Waverly mumbled.

"There are things that I have done that many people would consider evil. I have red in my ledger. I can't change that. The only thing I can do is move forward."

Waverly swallowed and whipped her eyes. The crying had stopped. She felt a little better knowing her brother had acted similarly with Natasha. But, Clint had feelings for the spy, even if he did suppress them. Waverly hated Loki. "But I hate him."

"Are you sure about that?"

If Waverly was honest with herself, the answer to that question would be "no." Hadn't she been thinking about Loki an awful lot lately? Hadn't she felt sorry for him when she saw the pain in his eyes? Hadn't she wanted to comfort him? She had thought he looked quite attractive in that painting in his room. She realized now that when he had touched her, it wasn't adrenalin causing the rush in her stomach; she had had butterflies.

"Oh god," Waverly sighed. "Clint is going to kill me."

"Don't worry about Clint," Natasha said. "Worry about yourself. You call anytime you need anything. Director Fury will still want weekly reports."

Waverly smiled. Natasha was always focused on the job at hand. "Okay. Thanks Nat."

* * *

Loki had run out of things to break in his room. The water basin was smashed. The mirror was demolished. He had already thrown his tray of food across the room. All that was left was to chuck his chair at the opposite wall. Once Hurricane Loki had settled down, the god flung himself onto his bed. He was breathing heavily and his heart thudded against his chest. That nagging feeling was back in his stomach. At that moment, Loki wanted nothing more that to die.

Oh how he hated himself. He felt disgusting. He felt ashamed. He was angry and sad and so many damn emotions! Emotions are for the weak! Loki shut his eyes tight and tried to think of _anything_ beside the human girl. He failed spectacularly. His hands still felt warm from her touch; Loki rarely felt warm. His lips tingled. And he felt… well he felt like he hadn't felt in years. Underneath all his self-loathing, a bubble of happiness had wormed its way into Loki's chest.

What was happening to him? He could _not_ be falling for this human girl. Hadn't he belittled Thor for his love of the mortal, Jane? _But,_ a voice in the back of his head whispered conspiratorially, _you have been noticing the human. Her smile. Her eyes. You grew fond of your time with her. She has been dwelling in your mind for quite some time._

Loki pressed his pillow against his face. He wanted to hate himself. He wanted to be angry with what he had done. But now, he just felt, confused.


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: So... I have something big planned but I can't get to it just yet so this is sort of a filler chapter so I hope it doesn't suck. Also this chapter is a little jumpy but I wanted to get in enough about how Loki and Waverly felt about everything. The thing about Odin and Loki's powers, yeah I made that up so... Also the berries Loki is talking about are made up too. I wrote this while watching Thor and Loki is just such a tragic person! I love his whole story! I hope you like.**

**I own nothing.**

Chapter Seven:

Waverly awoke the next morning feeling very… odd. After she had talked to Natasha, she had spent much of the night thinking. And she came to a conclusion. Somehow, over the past month, she had developed feelings for the god of mischief. She didn't know how and she didn't know why. At first, when she thought about it, it made her sick and she hated herself. But, the more she tried to resent what Loki had done, she found it had actually felt _good_. Waverly wasn't exactly happy she felt this way, but she wasn't mad at herself either.

Waverly rolled out of bed and found a warm bath waiting for her in the wash room. It always unnerved her to know that maids often came into her room while she was out or while she was sleeping. Still, she appreciated the bath. Sinking low into the warm bubbles, she let her mind go blank. She felt oddly at peace with herself, much unlike the previous night. Waverly was by no means happy, but she didn't have the urge to strangle Loki either. Still, her stomach twisted nervously when she thought about bringing the god his breakfast.

Once she was scrubbed clean, Waverly dried herself off and got dressed. Today, she wore denim shorts, a camouflage patterned, button-down shirt, and her usual combat boots. Leaving her hair damp, she left her room and headed to breakfast. As she walked, she debated telling Thor about the incident, as she called it. She decided that she should tell Thor, but not now. Now, she needed to talk to Loki and figure out what the hell was going on between them. Waverly may have realized she had feelings of some kind for him, but what was going on in Loki's evil, little mind.

At breakfast, Thor and his mother were talking in hushed voices. Waverly figured they were discussing the Bifrost or Loki or Odin. Waverly had heard snippets of conversations here and there that informed her Odin was growing even weaker than he already was. Frigga was worried he would fall into another Odinsleep. According to Thor, the Bifrost was nearly repaired, but he had mentioned that Hemidall saw that the Frost Giants were growing restless, wanting Loki to face justice in his true home realm. Frigga was worried that if the Frost Giants initiated any sort of hostilities towards Asgard, her husband would succumb to the Odinsleep.

When Waverly sat down at the table, Thor and his mother silenced their conversation. Waverly smiled at them, not wanting them to know she had been eavesdropping on many of their private conversations.

"Good morning, Lady Waverly," Thor said. He sounded so tired.

"How are you Thor?"

Thor sighed. "Things are not well. My father is becoming weaker with each passing day." The smile fell from Waverly's face. Thor was clearly worried about his father. "I fear he is reaching the end of his time in this realm."

Waverly looked confused. "I thought gods were immortal?" Hadn't Loki called her a pathetic mortal on numerous occasions?

Thor gave a light laugh that did not contain much amusement. "To humans, those of you on Earth, it seems we are immortal. A lifespan for you may be eighty or ninety years. A lifespan for us may be eight hundred years. In the end, we both must leave this existence and move on to the afterlife. I feel Val Halla is summoning my father."

"I'm sorry, Thor," Waverly said quietly.

Thor glanced at his mother. "No, if it is his time, then he must go. The thing that is worrisome is that, with his death, Loki's magic will be restored to him."

Waverly's fork clattered down to her plate. "You mean if Odin dies, Loki gets all his powers back?"

Thor nodded. Waverly now felt extremely nervous about going down to Loki's cell this morning.

* * *

Loki had not slept well. Dark circles ringed his emerald green eyes. He had lain in bed all night, staring at the ceiling. He went from confusion, to anger, to hatred, back to confusion, and then to an emotion he was rather unfamiliar with. He had felt it when he was young, very young. Playing with Thor, being tucked into bed by Frigga, it was… what was it? Happiness? Love? If it was happiness, it was much unlike the pleasure he felt when he had manipulated his way to the throne of Asgard or the joy he got from lying to Thor and causing mischief in his brother's life. It was unlike the feeling he got when he controlled Clint and the others or when he commanded the Chituari and attacked the humans.

If it was love… well, Loki wasn't even sure what love was. Frigga had said she loved him, but he didn't quite know what that meant. Frigga and Odin had lied to Loki for his entire life, how could that be love? He may not know what love is, but Loki was quite familiar with lies. Lies were just something that didn't go well with love. Thor had also said he loved Loki. Thor was not a part of Odin and Frigga's lie. Loki supposed if he ever felt love at all in his past, it involved his so-called brother. Loki sure didn't feel love for Odin. Wasn't love supposed to make you feel good? Odin had only ever made Loki feel inferior and unwanted.

But was was the love of a partner like? Family love was one thing, but the love of a husband to his wife? Loki couldn't even fathom what that was like. He dug through the memories of his youth and pushed aside his hatred of Odin. He was trying to remember how Odin and Frigga had acted towards each other. Odin made Frigga happy, that was for sure. While Odin always looked stern or even angry, Frigga always looked happy. Loki had many memories of her smiling at Odin. So, love made you feel good. Did Waverly make him feel good? Loki wasn't quite sure. Even though they mainly traded insults, he liked their banter. He liked that he was not isolated down in his cell. When she brought him that lunch and left the note, hadn't he felt _good_? Anyone in Waverly's position could have taken advantage of Loki's situation and make him feel the way he did. But, for some reason, Loki didn't think anyone else would have caused him to feel things he hadn't felt for ages.

Loki had to admit to himself that he found the girl attractive, even though she was a Midgardian. And he did enjoy when she came to his cell; she lifted the suffocating isolation his imprisonment forced upon him. But, he had thought that was just because, for once, he had someone who could verbally spar with him; not because he had_ feelings_ for her.

_So,_ Loki thought,_ if I indeed _love_ the wretched human, why on Asgard would she reciprocate the feelings? She hates me; wishes me dead. _But, said a voice at the back of his head, then why did she leave you that note? Why did she clean up your hand? Why weren't you kicked in your "balls" when you kissed her?

Maybe she felt something for him too. Without his permission, a smile spread across his face at this thought. _What is wrong with me?_ Maybe human girls had some sort of devious talent for seducing male Asgardians. Thor had fallen in love with the human Jane. And now Loki, well, there was something he felt for Waverly but he was afraid to call it love.

Even though Loki was starving, he dreaded the human's arrival. He didn't have long to dwell on this dread, for a few moments later, his heard a soft knock at his door. A key clicked into the lock and his door swung open.

* * *

Waverly entered his room without looking at him. She set his food on the table. The accompanying chair still lied on the other side of the room from when Loki had thrown it the night before. Loki watched as Waverly crossed the room, retrieved the chair, and brought it back to the table. She sat on the chair and finally looked at Loki.

Loki noticed her cheeks were tinged the lightest shade of pink. She looked… nervous. _Say something,_ her eyes seemed to say. As if just to annoy him further, Loki's stomach did some sort of wriggling thing inside him. At least that was what it felt like. His voice seemed to have disappeared as well. Once again, the human girl had him at a loss for words. Maybe, the voice said again, you do love her.

After several minutes of just staring at each other, Waverly stood up and left Loki alone in his cell. Once her footsteps faded, Loki rose from his bed and began eating his breakfast.

Waverly had to admit she was disappointed that Loki hadn't said anything at breakfast. Even if that something was an insult. But instead he had just stared at her. Confusion was all over his face. Waverly didn't know what to think. She had accepted that she felt something for Loki but Loki was unreadable. If Loki didn't feel the same way, Waverly could just ignore her feelings and get on with her life. _But, that's not what you want, is it?_ God, she was confused.

Eagerly awaiting lunch, Waverly decided to trek back to Loki's room. She had discovered that Loki, Thor, and Odin and Frigga all had bed chambers that were highly protected by magic on the floor above her own room. She found Loki's room quick, after slipping past some guards who were stationed outside Odin's room.

Inside the god of mischief's room, Waverly didn't feel as uncomfortable as she did before. The room wasn't as creepy as it was when she had first been in it. Waverly walked to the painting of the god and his family. She lightly touched the portrait of his face.

"Am I being stupid?" She whispered to herself. "Am I just feeling sorry for him because we are alike?" She looked into the eyes of the painting. She half expected them to blink, they were so life-like. "Damn, why do you have to be so attractive?"

Waverly turned from the painting and began looking around at the rest of Loki's room. He had shelf upon shelf of spell books; no wonder he was so smart. After his attack on Earth, someone had returned his gold armor to a stand in the corner of the room. Even if she found the god attractive, the horns were still ridiculous. Next to the armor stand was some kind of pedestal. _Probably for his staff thingy._

Waverly ended her exploration by sitting on the edge of Loki's bed. He was indeed a complex and troubled individual. But, wasn't Waverly as well? Didn't she struggle with her past? When Clint told her she was adopted, she didn't freak out and try to take over everything. But, that was because Waverly had Clint. Even when she pushed him away, even when she was angry with him, he pushed back and he comforted her. Waverly got the feeling that Odin wasn't like that for Loki. The Allfather may have truly come to love his adopted son, but Waverly was almost certain Odin did not try and soothe Loki's pain. Maybe he needs someone to help him.

* * *

Loki ate his breakfast and set the empty tray at the door as per usual. If the girl felt something for him, she was definitely not going to be the one to bring it up. Loki wasn't one to talk of feelings, so he wasn't going to bring it up. If he wanted to know the girl's true intentions, he would have to persuade her to tell him. Loki smiled and for once, it was not filled with evil intentions. The god of mischief may have had his silver tongue taken away, but he could be very persuasive. Still, whatever _feeling_ he had for this girl caused his stomach to twist uncomfortably at the thought of manipulating her.

* * *

Thor and Frigga were not present at lunch, so Waverly awkwardly sat alone at the long table. She nibbled on her food, biding time until she could take Loki his meal. One of Thor's friends was present. What was his name? Waverly felt bad that she couldn't remember but Thor's friends were rarely around so she didn't try to get to know them.

After eating silently for awhile, the friend rose from his seat and sat next to Waverly. "You are the Midgardian, yes? Lady Barton?"

Waverly nodded. "Please, call me Waverly. I'm sorry but I don't remember your name."

"I am Hogun. You seem uncomfortable here, Waverly."

Waverly laughed. "A little," she said. "Everything is just so different here."

Hogun nodded. "How is the prisoner treating you?"

"Loki." Waverly felt a twinge of anger that Hogun had referred to his former prince as a prisoner; even though he was. "He's fine."

Choking into his goblet of wine, Hogun laughed. "Loki does not treat anyone well."

"Thor said he used to."

Hogun studied Waverly carefully. "Loki used to be kind, though inclined to mischief. He was once our friend."

"What happened?"

"I do not know," Hogun admitted. "Why do you ask such questions?"

Waverly shrugged. "I just… on Earth, there is a reason people do bad things. They are hurt or sick. If that is the case, we help them."

"You are naïve human. Loki cannot be helped. He is consumed by his anger and hatred of Odin."

* * *

There was a knock, a click, and the door opened. Loki watched Waverly enter and set his food on his table. She looked at him and there was the faintest sign of a smile there. Loki blinked at her. Waverly turned from him, grabbed his empty breakfast tray and made to leave.

"That is all?" Loki asked. "No comment on my injured hand or the mess in the corner." Loki waved said hand in the direction of the debris from his past fits of rage.

"I've stopped trying to figure you out, Loki." Waverly said. Unlike her brother, she could not lie. Her cheeks flushed slightly and her eyes fell to the floor. Loki smiled mischievously.

"Oh, have you now?" Loki asked. He rose from his bed and went to stand next to the human. He felt his pulse quicken. _Does love feel like this? In Odin's name I hope not. This infernal feeling is childish._

"Don't flatter yourself," Waverly laughed. She held his gaze and that wriggling feeling returned to Loki's stomach._ I am weak,_ he berated himself. Waverly plucked a carrot off of his tray. "Enjoy your lunch, god of mischief." She turned away from him left the cell.

Maybe Loki had imagined everything that had happened the past day. No, those infernal feelings were real. Why did the girl not say anything then? Hadn't Jane confessed her love for Thor? Loki remembered when he had sent the Destroyer to kill Thor. The human Jane, she had ran to him when he was injured. That must be a sign of love. Waverly tended to his cut hand; was that an act of love? Why did Waverly not speak of her feelings? There is obviously something there or else Waverly would have surely summoned the weak minded Hawkeye to this realm to, what was it, "shoot a flaming arrow up his ass." This girl was something unlike the other humans Loki had had contact with.

And that's when he realized it. This feeling, whatever it was, was because present because Waverly was not like anyone else he had met on Asgard or Midgard. She threw sarcastic comments and insults back at him just as quickly as he fired them off at her. When he would insult his brother, Thor just got angry. That was always a fun event but Loki found it more enjoyable that Waverly didn't simply become infuriated with him, she tried to make him angry as well.

* * *

Loki sat eating his dinner, watching the girl. She had sprawled out across his bed once more, making herself right at home in his cell. "Do you have like any friends?" She asked out of the blue.

"What?"

"Thor. He's got friends. Those Three Warriors or whatever they call themselves. And that Zena-warrior-princess chick."

"What in the devil are you talking about?" Loki asked. He pushed his empty plate away and turned in his chair so he was facing the girl.

"Friends. Chums. Amigos. You know." Waverly swung her legs off the bed and looked Loki in the face. "I was talking to one of Thor's friends. He said you used to be nice. God, I can't see it. You're vile." Waverly laughed.

Loki rolled his eyes and laughed as well. "If I am vile then what does that make you?"

"Me? People love me," Waverly said in mock arrogance. "I'm related to an Avenger for crying out loud. Me and Captain America, yeah, we're like this." Waverly crossed her fingers. Loki grew frustrated with himself. Without his silver tongue, he was no longer the manipulator, he was the manipulated. He had been trying all throughout dinner to worm some truth from Waverly but she was the once who was trying to worm things from him. Mentioning the wonderful Steve Rodgers. He would have been Waverly's assignment it it wasn't for Loki. Mentioning that she was close to the Avenger, she was trying to see if Loki would show some sign of jealously. _Well, I may not be able to manipulator as easily as I normally would be able to, but as sure as I am the god of mischief I will not be manipulated by this human._

* * *

Dinner the previous night had ended without much progress in the manipulating Waverly thing. So now, Loki eagerly awaited breakfast. He had been up much of the night devising a way to get under the girl's skin. He had formed a plan that would both allow him to manipulate the girl and let him kiss her again.

When she arrived with his meal, Loki asked, "What's for breakfast?" Try as he might, he could not make his voice as sarcastic and condescending as it normally was.

Waverly answered by lifting the lid off the tray. "I don't know. Some kind of fruit salad thing. These fruits don't grow on Earth.

"You wonder why?" Loki asked. A hint of his usual sarcasm had returned. He rose from the bed and stood at the table next to Waverly. "All the toxins and pollutants you Midgardians pour into your planet. Delicacies such as these," Loki lifted a blood red berry and popped it in his mouth, "Cannot grow in such filth."

Waverly rolled her eyes. "Earth is not_ that_ bad. People are trying to change." She looked deep into Loki's eyes. He suppressed a shiver under gaze. Why did she keep making him feel this way?

Loki picked up another fruit. This one was a grape. He knew these were native to Midgard as well. "Here," he handed it to Waverly. She ate it. "It is sweet, no?" Waverly nodded. "Now, taste this." Loki handed her one of the blood red berries. He watched as Waverly ate the berry, her eyes widening with the shock of such flavor. The red berries, oran berries, tasted sweet when the skin was punctured and the juice poured over one's tongue, but then, a slightly sour taste came from the edible seeds within the berry. Finally, as the skin was chewed, a new type of sweetness washed over the tongue. "You see," Loki said, "On Asgard, things taste much," he leaned down so his face was level with Waverly's, "Things taste much sweeter."

Loki was leaning down. His face was inches from Waverly's own. He was talking about fruits but Waverly felt like he was talking about something else. _On Asgard, things taste much sweeter._ Oh god, he's talking about himself the arrogant little bastard, Waverly thought. She fought back a smile. It was true though. Their kiss was brief but it felt like nothing Waverly had experienced before. She was pretty and when she was in school, a lot of boys fancied her. She had been in many relationships; nothing serious, though. Clint scared away most of her boyfriends. But none of them had tasted like Loki. There was something about his lips. It was like he was forbidden. Waverly wanted another kiss. She lifted herself out of the chair and lightly pressed her lips against the god's.

Even though Loki was intending to kiss Waverly himself, he was surprised when she initiated the action. _Well,_ he thought,_ there is one thing on Midgard that is sweeter than anything on Asgard._


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: A little short this time but I wanted to really set up their relationship for the next part. Thanks so much for the reviews and putting me on your alerts! I tried not to make Loki too touchy-feely in this chapter but the dude's so emotionally messed up, I had to have some mushy stuff here and there. I hope you like.**

**I own nothing.**

Chapter Eight:

Waverly pulled away and looked at the god of mischief. She could see surprise in his eyes but there was a small smile playing about his lips. "What?" She asked, somewhat breathlessly.

Loki took a few steps backward and sat on his bed. "You… correct me if I am mistaken, on Asgard, kissing is a display of affection, I thought it was so on Midgard as well."

"Yes," Waverly said slowly. "It is. _You_ kissed _me_ the other night. Don't you remember what I told you when I came here? Your powers are gone and I'm here to get under your skin. I couldn't let you have one up on me, so _I_ had to kiss_ you_ now, didn't I?"

"You think I enjoyed my moment of… stupidity?" Loki asked. The smile on his face completely disagreed with his commentary of their kiss.

Waverly adopted the arrogant smile she had seen on Loki's face many a time. "Yes, I think you did. I am me after all." The girl laughed.

"You are insufferable," Loki said.

"Yeah, now you know how I feel sitting in here and listening to you three times a day." Waverly crossed the room and sat cross-legged on the edge of Loki's bed. They looked at each other in silence for a moment. "Why did you do it?" Waverly asked quietly.

Loki put a slender hand to his chin in thought. He spoke slowly, choosing his words carefully. "If I had to have met my match in a Midgardian, at least it is a cunning and devious little human such as yourself."

Waverly had to smile. Even Loki's compliments were saturated with insults. Although, cunning and devious weren't exactly bad traits to have, especially for a SHIELD agent. "So you like me?"

"I am not quite sure. I have not experienced feelings such as these before. It is quite sickening."

Waverly scooted closer to Loki. Behind his cold exterior, she could see the confusion of one battling their own conflicted emotions. With a shaking hand, she reached out and intertwined Loki's cold fingers in her own. The god recoiled at first but the warmth of her skin penetrated his icy shell. "You are infuriating," he said quietly.

"How so?"

"You are a human. I am a god. Yet your touch causes feelings I do not understand."

"Loki, stop being so arrogant and maybe you'll understand." Waverly released Loki's hand. Despite the fact that she liked their kiss, wanted another, and enjoyed the cool tingle of his skin, she was becoming uncomfortable. Waverly couldn't help but identify with Loki's sentiment. Sure, she knew she felt something for Loki but that something was burning inside her. She felt a hunger she had never felt before and quite honestly, it scared her. Loki was, well, Loki. How could he love her and why did she want him to?

"I am not arrogant," Loki snapped. "I am Loki Laufeyson. I am worth a hundred mortals."

Waverly laughed and shook her head. "God, I'm an idiot."

"Event though I must agree, why do you berate yourself?" Loki questioned.

A blush creeping into her cheeks once again, Waverly responded in a voice barely above a whisper. "Because I like you for god's sake."

"For a human, your taste in potential mates is quite excellent." Loki smiled at the mingled look of pleasure and disgust on Waverly's face.

"You're full of yourself, you know that?"

* * *

A week had past since Loki had first kissed the human girl. While they still exchanged these niceties, neither one of them had made any forward progress with defining their relationship. Days consisted of traded insults, like always, and a few kisses here and there. Loki's imprisonment seemed much more bearable. Though, he still longed for his magic and his freedom. Despite his affection for the Midgardian girl, he still longed to rule the pathetic realm and have her humans kneel at his feet. Maybe they would be willing to accept him as king if one of their own was queen? This thought was appealing but whenever Loki thought of using the girl to his advantage or using her as a pawn, an unsettling feeling cropped up in his stomach. Thoughts of scheming and thoughts of the girl did not fit well together in his head.

Still, maybe his relationship with Waverly, whatever it was, would indeed help him out of this cell. She was a SHIELD agent, surely her opinion would have some sway, however little. Thor did say that if he showed remorse, Odin might come to forgive him. Maybe that would lessen his sentence. If Waverly would attest to his change of heart, Odin may very well shorten Loki's punishment. Again, the thought of using Waverly as a pawn made Loki uncomfortable. It was frustrating really. He had used so many other humans, her brother even, but he could not get used to the idea of using her.

Loki had grown used to the tingling feeling he got in the pit of his stomach whenever he thought about the Midgardian girl. He still despised himself for allowing this feeling to take hold of him, but since it had, he might as well enjoy it. It felt good. Thinking of Waverly eased the pain he had lived with ever since that day he found out he was nothing more than a pawn to his father. Maybe that's why he couldn't use the girl like he had wanted too. He knew what it felt like to be nothing more than a pawn to someone you thought cared for you.

Still power hungry, still restless, and still angry as ever, Loki had to admit to himself that, at least when Waverly was with him, he felt like he did all those years ago. When he and Thor would sneak around the palace and play pranks on the guards; when Loki would cast illusions of himself to play tricks on his brother; when Frigga would walk with them, holding their hands, and tell them stories of the nine realms. Loki and Thor had always been different. Thor was loud, outgoing, strong, and brave. Loki was quiet, thoughtful, cunning, and intelligent. But they had been friends, they _had_ been brothers even if they did not share the same blood. Waverly reminded him of that. The way she talked of Clint; she was not in the slightest related to him but from her words, Loki could almost feel the love she had for her adoptive brother. Maybe Thor did still care about Loki, despite him being an evil Frost Giant.

Speaking of Thor, Loki's cell door creaked open and Thor walked in. Loki looked up from the book he had been attempting to read before his thoughts took over his mind.

"Brother," Thor said. "You are well?"

"As well as I can be, seeing as I'm caged up in here like some common peasant." Loki drawled.

"Have you thought about what I said," Thor asked. He sat at the edge of Loki's bed. The god of mischief set his book at his side and sat up straighter against his headboard. "About showing your remorse? Obtaining Father's forgiveness?"

"If it would lighten my sentence, then yes, I would tell _your_ father of my remorse. But since he so _lovingly_ stripped me of my magic, I could not convince him that I am remorseful without my silver tongue."

Thor locked gazes with his brother. "You still do not feel that what you have done was wrong?"

Loki blinked and looked away from Thor. "I do not think what I have done is wrong. The humans are a pathetic race. They should willingly accept me as king. They should beg for my leadership."

"What about Waverly?"

Loki's emerald green eyes shot back up to his brother's face. Even though he knew Waverly was friendly with the god of thunder, he didn't think Waverly would have confessed their… activities to Thor. "What has Agent Barton told you?" Loki asked a little too stiffly.

"I know you have come to care for her, brother." Thor said gently. "You would enslave her people? Rule her world?"

"She would be by my side," Loki mumbled.

"Would she?" Questioned Thor. "Her hatred of you may have been extinguished, but remember how angry she was with you because of what you did to her brother? I am sure Clint Barton is not the only soul in Midgard that Waverly is fond of. More importantly, attacking Midgard would pit you against Hawkeye. If Waverly cares for you as much as I think she does, that battle would be most upsetting to her."

Loki shut his eyes tight and sighed. He gritted his teeth together. His brother was being very irritating at the moment. High and mighty Thor, as usual. But he was right. Deep down, Loki knew if he conquered Midgard by defeating Hawkeye and the other Avengers, Waverly's affections for him would cease. Right now, Loki wasn't sure what he was afraid of giving up more; his dream of becoming king or the girl who made him feel… normal.

"Brother," Thor said quietly, jostling Loki from his thoughts. "The Frost Giants are quite angry with you. They feel you should face justice in Jotunheim, due to your…." Thor faltered.

"My heritage," Loki finished for him.

Thor continued as if Loki hadn't said anything. "Mother and I believe that if you repent, their anger will decrease. The other realms call for your blood. Mother is concerned for you."

"She is not my mother," Loki said in a hollow voice. He kept his eyes pressed closed but could not stop visions of Frigga slipping into the focus of his mind's eye. All the nights Thor had conjured up storms and Loki had been afraid; he had crept into his parents' chambers and Frigga would soothe him until he fell asleep. All the times he was injured in play fights with Thor, she would tend to his bruises better than any healer. All the nights she tucked him in, kissed his forehead and whispered 'I love you, little Loki.' Even though she had lied about his heritage for his whole life, Loki could not help but remember these instances and feel the truth behind her gestures. She considered him her son as much as Thor was; just as Waverly considered Clint her brother though the two did not share blood.

"Loki," Thor said. His voice was a mix of gentleness and frustration. "We were raised together, cared for together, played, fought, and learned together. I am you brother and you are our Mother's son. Please, release this hatred. Release these negative feelings and these dangerous schemes. Come back to us. For Mother."

_Why were women such infuriating creatures?_ Loki thought. Despite all the evil he had done, Frigga was worried for the safety of her son, should the other realms seek him out. And then Waverly was kissing him, for Odin's sake, after she had threatened to kill him on multiple occasions because of his manipulation of her brother. Loki ran a pale hand through his dark hair. "I will contemplate your offer," Loki said slowly, "Brother."

* * *

Waverly was now coming down to Loki's cell at times other than meals. The insults had died down a great deal, but the two still picked on each other constantly. Waverly couldn't help but relate their banter to flirting. Loki had never experienced a relationship before, to Waverly's knowledge, and he acted like those boys she dated in high school; the ones who pulled on a girl's hair to get her attention and made fun of her dress to get her to notice him.

But the hunger Loki had awakened in Waverly did not die down. She knew Loki was feeling the same way. She could tell when they kissed. They kissed at least every night before Waverly left him to go to bed. She was staying later and later into the night and convincing herself to go back to her room was getting more and more difficult. When they would kiss goodnight, there was heat behind the display of affection. There were no longer awkward silences and blushing faces. She didn't recoil when he met her lips as she had done at the beginning and he did not shudder under her touch.

Finally, Waverly could not keep her feelings silent any longer. Loki was seated on the floor, leaning against the side of his bed. Waverly sat on top of the bed, a leg on either side of Loki, playing with his long hair. She had tried to do this on several occasions when they kissed, but Loki seemed to be particular about his hair. It took Waverly a long time to persuade him to let her touch it.

"Loki," she said quietly.

"Hmm?" The god sighed around a mouthful of food.

"What is this?"

"My hair, darling." Though Loki called her 'darling,' there was still sarcasm in his voice. But it was the sarcasm that brought a smile to Waverly's face instead of frustration.

"No. I mean us. What are we?"

"I am Loki, god of mischief. You are Waverly, agent of SHIELD."

"Okay smartass," Waverly laughed. "I mean us. Me and you. The whole kissing each other every night thing. I feel something there and I know you do too. What is it?"

Loki set his tray on the floor beside him and turned to face Waverly. "I know that you make me feel like the Loki Thor calls his brother. Not the Loki that controlled Hawkeye. You make me feel things that I don't know how to explain."

"Loki," Waverly said. Her eyes would not meet Loki's and her voice was trembling. Loki was suddenly afraid that something was very wrong. "Loki," the girl said again, "I've said this to guys a thousand times before, but saying it now feels different."

"Saying what?"

"I love you."


	9. Chapter 9

**AN: Thanks again for all the reviews! They make me want to write more! Well, here's the big thing I was talking about. I'm kinda nervous about how it's going to go over. I hope you like it. Oh, and the thing about Thor's coronation, that came from a deleted scene from Thor that I just found out about. Look it up on youtube if you haven't seen it. It's good!**

**I own nothing!**

Chapter Nine:

Loki must have heard her wrong. It sounded like she said she loved him. That couldn't possibly be right. Perhaps she had said "I loath you." Yes, that made much more sense. Still, Loki could not stop himself from smiling. Looking at the girl, Loki noticed how scared and nervous she looked.

"Aren't you going to say anything?" Waverly asked.

"I know not what to say," Loki admitted.

"You could say you love me too."

Loki disentangled himself from the girl and sat beside her on the bed. "I am not sure what love is. I had been lied to my whole life, yet the same people who lied to me said they loved me."

"Thor and Frigga love you," Waverly insisted gently. "Just like Clint loves me."

Loki looked sideways at Waverly. He felt uncomfortable. The burning feeling Waverly caused inside him was intense and he wanted to say it back. He thought back to the many times Frigga had said she love him. That had felt real. No matter how much Loki wanted to despise Frigga as much as he did Odin, he couldn't. She had looked at him like Waverly did. She accepted him as her son. When Frigga had said she loved Loki, Loki knew she meant it. And he knew, he could not despise his mother because he loved her as well. He also thought of his brother. Before Thor's coronation, Loki had admitted how envious he was of his elder brother. Though he had planned to let Frost Giants into the palace, though he felt Thor arrogant and a self absorbed nut, he had to admit that Thor looked like a king; he held himself with pride and confidence. When he had told Thor he loved him that day, he had meant it. Really, the only reason Loki hated Thor was because of the image Odin had cultivated around him that Loki could not live up to. Odin always praised Thor, loved him; they had a relationship Loki could never have had with Odin. It all came back to Odin. Odin was really the only one Loki hated. Frigga, Mother, he loved her. And deep down, no mater how envious he was and no matter how often he butted heads with his brother, and it was a daily occurrence, he loved Thor as well.

But did he love Waverly? He had grown to like her, which was an accomplishment in itself. He still did not know what love for a partner was like. Waverly caused feelings he could not name to stir inside him. Was that love? The burning and tingling in his stomach, the hunger for her kisses, the warmth her touch left. If that was all love, then yes, Loki loved her, no question. But was that love or just a lonely, humiliated prince with no one else to lift his isolation?

"I have felt love for others on occasion," Loki finally said. His tone was careful and he chose his words with precision. "But those that I love are my mother and Thor. I have not experienced love for a partner."

"You've never been with another girl?" Waverly asked.

"Don't be ridiculous, of course I have! I just have not been, how do you Midgardians put it, 'serious' with anyone. I do not know what that kind of love is like. So, until I can figure out, I cannot say it back." Loki looked away from the girl, not wanting to see the disappointment in her face.

"Love isn't something you can learn from a book," Waverly said. "But if you can't tell me you love me yet, then I can wait."

"And if I never come to love you?" Loki asked.

"Then I will move on. Like I always have." Waverly stood from the bed and picked up Loki's discarded dinner tray. "Good night, Loki." She sighed and walked from his cell.

* * *

The next morning, Waverly was surprised at the amount of action going on in the dining room. It was only breakfast, what could possibly have everyone so riled up this early. Cautiously taking a seat next to Thor, Waverly asked, "Is something wrong?"

Thor jumped at the sound of the agent's voice. He turned from his hushed conversation with the Warriors Three and Sif. A conflicted look crossed his face as he debated answering Waverly's question.

"She is keeping an eye on him, Thor," Sif said in an even tone. "She should know."

Waverly's stomach twisted uncomfortably. "Know what?"

"The Bifrost was completed last night," Thor said in a low voice. Well what did that have to do with Loki?

"And?"

"And, Hemidall was battling all night to keep the Frost Giants from this realm."

"They still want Loki?" Waverly asked.

"Yes. Since Laufey's death, a new king has risen due to Loki's… absence. To hear him tell it, Loki should be tried for his crimes on Jotunheim since he is a Frost Giant."

"Crimes?" Waverly was confused. "Aren't the Frost Giants like war crazy?"

"Yes." This time it was Sif who spoke. "That is why this whole situation is questionable. It does not make sense. We believe they wish to take Loki back to lead their army. We believe they think that they are more powerful than the Chituari and with Loki leading their forces, they will be able to take over the other realms."

"But the Avengers kicked Loki's ass, why would they think he can win just because they are on his side?" Asked Waverly.

"They think they are more powerful," answered Thor. "They have successfully attacked Midgard in the past. They do not realize that Midgard has changed and even though they may cause a war, it will only end with the eradication of their race."

"That is not all," Hogun said in his flat voice. Despite his lack of emotion, Waverly could see a crease of worry on his thoughtful face. "They have demanded we turn Loki over to them by sun-high today or they will forcibly retrieve him."

"Father has fallen into the Odinsleep because of this," Thor said quietly. "I am preparing our guards for a battle."

"Thor, you said a while ago that if Loki would repent for what he did, the other realms would back off," Waverly said. She left out the part about overhearing this particular conversation. "It doesn't sound like the Frost Giants just want Loki to say 'I'm sorry'."

"I feel the other realms are more reasonable than the Frost Giants in this matter. Loki is not the first and will not be the last one to try and hold power over what is not his." Thor explained. "I fear the only think to do is ready ourselves for an attack. Agent Barton, I do not want SHIELD interfering with the protection of my realm. Please do not relay this to Director Fury."

Waverly nodded. "What can I do?"

"Should the palace's defenses be breached, help my mother protect Father. Just because it is Loki they want does not mean they will not come after the rest of us."

"Okay, Thor. I can do that."

"Now, I must prepare for battle." Thor rose from the table. Sif and the Warriors Three followed him. Despite Thor's misgivings about going into battle, Waverly couldn't help notice the glint in his eyes. Thor was just itching to take out his stress by smashing in a few skulls with his hammer.

* * *

Loki couldn't help but notice the worried look on Waverly's face as she served him breakfast. Her eyes would only look at him in fleeting glimpses and she tapped her foot nervously whenever a silence fell between them.

"Is this because I have not said I love you?" The god of mischief asked.

Though she looked at him, she seemed distracted. "No. Wait, what?"

"You are ill at ease," Loki said, taking a bite of egg.

"Am not."

Loki raised an eyebrow at the girl.

"Okay fine. I'm nervous all right. I have to help Thor out with something later, so I might not make it on time for lunch."

"Help with what?" Loki asked with suspicion.

"Fixing the rainbow bridge thingy," Waverly lied.

"I am the god of mischief and lies," Loki reprimanded the girl. "Though my manipulative powers have been taken from me, I know a lie when I see one."

This was why Waverly could never go with her brother on important missions. Her poker face sucked. "Look, I'll tell you later, all right?"

"I am not sure what love is, but I am fairly certain lies do not go with love."

"Oh god," Waverly groaned. "Just because I like you doesn't mean you can still be irritating as hell…. Look, I have something to do and I will tell you, just not now."

Loki ate the rest of his meal in silence.

* * *

Waverly paced the hallway in front of Odin's chambers. She could hear the distant sounds of fighting through the palace windows. From her high vantage point, she could see the blurry shapes or Asgardians and Frost Giants doing battle at the Bifrost. It was already concerning that the attackers had managed to breach Hemidall's defenses.

From what Waverly understood, before waging a war on Earth, Loki had attempted to destroy Jotunheim. For a planet that was almost blown to bits, their army sure was strong. Waverly's stomach tightened as she watched a few Frost Giants slip away from the main battle and plunge deeper into Asgard.

Waverly took slow even breaths, calming herself. She was a SHIELD agent for crying out loud! She had better start acting like it. She had changed from casual clothes into the dark blue jumpsuit provided to all SHIELD agents. Her hair was tucked into a tight pony tail and her combat boots were snug on her feet. At her hip rested a simple shot gun but her real weapon was in her hand. Clint had tried to teach Waverly to shoot a bow. She failed remarkably at the skill. So, he taught her how to shoot a gun. She was an all right shot. But then Natasha gave her a knife. It was obvious from than point on that knife throwing would be Waverly's best means of defense. Clutched in her right hand was a short butterfly knife. The hilt was purple and the blade was dyed black. It was only a few inches long, but in Waverly's hands it could be deadly. As she paced, she flipped the knife from one hand to another.

Tossing the knife calmed her as much as archery calmed Clint; just one of the mannerisms she picked up from him throughout the years. Soon, Waverly's mind was in combat mode, in the "zone" as she called it, instead of running amok and worrying. That is, until a loud crash and the sound of battle cries filled her ears.

The noises were far too loud to be coming from near the Bifrost. The Frost Giants had reached the palace and were clearly barging their way in at that very moment. Waverly heard Frigga stirring in her chambers, not doubt arming herself to protect her husband.

Waverly gripped her knife tightly. Her stomach felt like a writhing mass of snakes. The Frost Giants were here, in the palace. And they were hunting Loki.

The sounds of battle seemed to be coming from the lower floors. Nothing was happening way up here. Maybe she could check on Loki, just once, and make sure the Frost Giants hadn't reached the dudgeons.

Without pausing to think on it again, Waverly took off at a run for Loki's cell.

Signs were not good. Waverly passed the frozen bodies of several guards by the time she reached the door to the high security cells. All that stood between her and Loki was this hallway and the door to his cell. Waverly pushed the door open quietly, knife firmly grasped in her hand.

Despite all her training, she let out a petrified gasp when she opened the door. Loki's cell was open and three towering Frost Giants stood before it. One had a firm grip on Loki's upper arm.

At her sound, all four pairs of eyes shot to where she was standing. One of the Frost Giants began walking towards her, an evil smile on his wretched face. He reached out a hand and Waverly felt like she was standing in a freezer.

"Run, Waverly!" Loki was screaming at her. "Run!"

Waverly slammed the door and took off up the stairs. She heard the crack of ice as it engulfed the door. Surely the Frost Giant would be breaking through the door and on her heels in just a few seconds.

_No,_ she thought, _they are after Loki. Oh shit. They have him._ Waverly knew Loki would not go willingly with the Frost Giants. He despised them. But, without his magic, how could he fight back?

Waverly's mind had already come to a decision. Her feet were leading her to her destination before she could fully process what she was about to do.

Waverly threw open the door to Odin's chambers. Frigga spun around and lifted a heavy sword. She relaxed when she saw it was only Waverly standing before her.

"They've breached the palace," Waverly said, clutching a stitch in her side. "You need to get somewhere safe. I will protect Odin."

Frigga looked from Waverly to Odin, concern and worry etched all over her beautiful face. "I will not leave him."

"It is Thor's command!" Waverly yelled. "You need to get somewhere safe. I will protect your husband. I am more than capable of doing so."

Frigga debated with herself for what felt to Waverly like ages. Finally, she placed the sword down at Odin's side. "If Thor believes this is what is best, I trust him." Frigga kissed her sleeping husband on the cheek and slowly left the room.

Before she could have a chance to feel guilty, before she could rethink, Waverly crossed the room in a few short steps. She tightened her grip on her knife. Leaning over Odin, she took a deep breath as she plunged her knife right into his heart.

There was screaming. Waverly whipped back around. Frigga had returned, obviously rethinking her decision. "What have you done?"

Waverly ripped her knife from Odin's chest and threw it at Frigga. She had aimed for the knife to fly just above the queen's shoulder and stick in the door behind her. Waverly used that as a distraction to flee from the room.

* * *

-Just Previously-

Loki could hear what sounded like the pounding feet of soldiers. He had been in enough battles with his brother to know the familiar sound. _What on Asgard is going on?_ Rising from the bed, the shouts of battle cries reached Loki's ears. He peered out his small window. What sounded like the shatter of ice came from the other side of the door at the end off the hall. Next thing Loki knew, three hideous Frost Giants had burst through the door and were rambling their way towards him, leaving a trail of ice in their wake.

Hatred and anger flooded Loki's veins. He didn't know what was going on, but the mere presence of Frost Giants caused him great displeasure. Thank Odin for that one.

Loki backed from the door as the Frost Giants broke into his cell. Without his magic, fending them off would be a real challenge.

"Well, well, well," the apparent leader said in his deep voice. "If it isn't our fallen comrade."

Loki rolled his eyes. "I am no more one of you than I am one of them." He jerked his head upwards. "I belong to no realm."

"You are right," the second giant said. "You do not belong in any of the nine realms. You have shamed yourself and your people. You have killed Laufey and you would kill Odin as well."

"I feel I am quite justified to do so." Sarcasm laced Loki's voice.

The third giant spoke. "You will return with us, _brother_, and you will pay for your disgraces."

The leader then grabbed Loki by the arm. His skin began to turn blue and he felt himself reverting into his Frost Giant form. Loki struggled against his captor's grip, but despite his god-like strength, the Frost Giant's grip help firm.

Then, Waverly was at the end of the hall. Her eyes were wide with fear, a hand covering her mouth. Out of the corner of his now orange eye, Loki saw a giant stalk towards her, preparing to freeze her where she stood.

"Run, Waverly!" Loki screamed. He was surprised at the amount of fear in his own voice. "Run!"

As soon as Waverly's brown head disappeared form sight, Loki flipped the giant who was holding him over his shoulder. He was free for a moment and tried to take off, but the other two giants were on him in a second. They could not freeze him, so Loki could still put up a fight. But once the leader had rejoined the struggle, even Loki's strength could not save him from this mess.

And then, Loki felt the familiar electric tingle of magic flowing through his veins. How on all of Asgard did he have his magic back? There is no way Odin would willingly relinquish his adoptive son's powers back. Loki did not question the sudden turn of events further. He unleashed a blue orb of energy at each of his attackers, sending each giant hurtling to the wall. Loki smiled as the satisfying crunch of broken bone reached his ears. Loki looked at the giants briefly, to make sure they were dead, then tore down the hall. He had just started climbing the steps when he nearly ran face first into the SHIELD agent.

* * *

Waverly tore through the palace halls. She could still hear Frigga's cries of despair in her ears. Guilt and sickness replaced the nervousness in her stomach. But she had to keep running. She fled past guards and soldiers and Frost Giants. She caught a brief glimpse of Sif battling two giants twice her size. She saw lightning flash outside; that must be Thor. But she still ran on. In moments, she was descending the steps to Loki's cell.

She nearly tipped over her own feet in shock as she came face to face with the god of mischief.

"We must leave this place," Loki said. He grabbed Waverly by the arm and began dragging her up the stairs. The sounds of battle were still loud and wide spread. Loki felt that Asgard may actually fall this time.

"Your magic," Waverly panted. "It's back?"

"Yes," Loki said, still urging the girl on. "Why did Odin give it back to me?"

"He didn't," Waverly said. She planted her feet firmly on the ground and forced Loki to stop. The god turned and looked at her. "I killed him."

Loki was not quite sure what emotion he was feeling. He actually felt like smiling, this must be a joke. Waverly had killed Odin? That could not be possible. "I… you… what?" Loki stammered stupidly.

"Odin, fell into Odinsleep." Waverly was still panting. She looked as if she was about to either cry of vomit. Or both. Loki sincerely hoped she didn't do either of those things. "I knew you needed your powers to fight off the Frost Giants. Thor said if Odin died, you got your powers back. I stabbed him," Waverly's voice cracked. "In the heart."

Only one word came to Loki's mind. "Why?"

Waverly looked him in the eye; hers were swimming with tears. "Because," she choked, "I love you." Her face was pale and she was clutching her stomach as if forcing herself not to vomit. It's not that killing was something she was not used to; her brother was an assassin for crying out loud. She had just never experienced the killing of one of the good guys, someone on her side.

"We need to leave," Loki said again. He pulled Waverly on, summoning a quick spell to ease her stomach for the time being.

"Where are we going?"

"The Bifrost."

"Are you insane," Waverly asked. The answer was most likely yes. "The Bifrost is like the center of the battle!"

Loki pushed onward. Soon, the pair had reached the ground floor. The fighting in the main hall of the palace was intense. Loki used his magic to mask himself and the girl as simple palace maids and they managed to slip past the fighting and out into the streets. Breaking into a run once more, Loki led Waverly to the Bifrost.

"We need to leave this realm," Loki said over his shoulder.

As they neared the Bifrost, Waverly could tell that Loki had the right idea. Skipping over the bodies of frozen soldiers, Waverly and Loki made their way to the bridge. The fighting had stopped here as the Frost Giants marched into Asgard. Waverly wondered why she didn't feel nauseous at the sight of frozen Asgardians and beheaded Frost Giants.

They reached the gateway. Loki released Waverly and began fighting to free something from a pile of ice. No, not a pile of ice, Waverly realized. It was a man. A frozen man. Hemidall. Waverly had only seen him once, but she knew this must be him. Loki wrenched the staff from the fallen guard's frozen hands and plunged it into whatever the heck it was that made this thing work. Waverly gasped as the golden orb surrounding them began to spin and a portal of swirling colors and velvet black sky opened before them. Loki grabbed her by the arm once more and threw himself and the girl into the portal.

Loki and Waverly landed in a painful tangle on cold, hard ground. It was dark and the sounds of the night could be heard.

"Where are we?" Waverly asked, struggling into a sitting position.

"Midgard," Loki answered. "You will take me to my spear."


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: This one is a tad shorter than usual and I'm not quite sure if I like it. Please review and let me know what you think. On a similar note, I welcome reviews, even constructive criticism. However, if you chose to bash this story or my character, you're review will be deleted. If you don't like my story, don't read it, no one is forcing you to. To those of you who like this story and have favorited it or added it to your alerts, thank you again =] This story is going to be much longer than I intended due to an idea I just had that I think will make all of this more interesting. Enjoy!**

**I own nothing!**

Chapter Ten:

Waverly rubbed her head, the nausea of inter-dimensional travel causing her head to spin. "I… you… what?" Waverly looked around her at the dank alley they were sitting in. "Where are we?" She asked again.

Ignoring her second question, mainly because he could not answer it, Loki reiterated, "My spear. I am certain your agency still has it. I am in need of it now that my magic has returned." Loki stood and dragged Waverly into a standing position beside him. She swayed for a moment before regaining her balance. Head still spinning, she cursed Loki for his ever formal mode of speech.

"God, talk normal for like five seconds." Her eyes finally focusing, she looked at Loki. He looked paler than usual; if that was possible.

"My weapon. I need it. Better?"

"Yes. Why?" Waverly suddenly felt nervous. All the warnings Clint had given her. All the debriefings she had attended before being allowed to take this job. Everything Fury had told her. Loki plus that spear thingy equals bad. Really bad.

"The spear channels my magic. I require it." Loki said mysteriously.

"So you want me to lead you into a SHIELD weapons vault and _steal_ your weapon for you?" Waverly let out an un-amused chuckle. "Yeah, riiight. I'm a SHIELD agent, doofus. I don't care if I like you, I can't get your spear for you."

"But you can kill the All Father?"

Waverly's stomach twisted nervously. Thankfully, they were in an alley way and there were dumpsters aplenty. She threw herself over the rim of a particularly gnarly smelling one and vomited.

Loki rolled his eyes. "How did once so squeamish become an agent for SHIELD?"

Waverly dropped back down to the cool ground. She held her head in her hands, letting tears fall from her face but suppressing the sobs. Not one for comforting, Loki shifted from one foot to another while Waverly let her emotions pour out into the alley way.

Finally, Waverly looked up at the god. Her eyes were red and puffy and she looked like she was about to vomit again. "I'm not an agent like all the others," she said, her voice cracking. "I told you how Clint found me. Well, I guess Fury wanted to send me to an orphanage when they couldn't find my parents. Clint took me in instead. I grew up around the agency; hearing about assassinations, wars, weapons. It all made me sick. I couldn't handle it. Clint had me train with the other agents when I was old enough. I can shoot a gun, I know basic martial arts, but when it came time to actually hurt people, I just couldn't do it." Waverly sighed and her shoulders shook as she fought back tears. "So, I became Fury's secretary. I converted written reports to electronic files; I got him coffee; I ran his errands. That's all I was. And then something called the Avengers Initiative was brought up. I was put in charge of tracking potential candidates, summarizing their movements and their actions, and giving my reports to Agent Coulson. Then you came around and well, here I am."

Loki blinked his luminous green eyes at the girl. So, she knew the basics of self defense which was why she could stand her ground against him. But she wasn't like her brother. She wasn't a spy, an assassin, a killer. Until now. "How did you bring yourself to kill Odin?" Loki asked quietly.

Waverly shrugged her shoulders and dropped her eyes to the ground. "I didn't want them to take you."

As comforting as ever, Loki dragged Waverly into a standing position once again. "You have killed Odin, father to one of your mighty Avengers. You are as much as SHIELD agent as I am. Now, you will help me retrieve my spear."

Waverly choked down another sob. She opened her mouth to reply to Loki's demand when her pocket vibrated. She slipped a slender hand into the hidden folds of her jumpsuit and pulled out her phone. Clint's picture flashed across the screen. "Oh god," she mumbled. She took a breath and braced herself for what was to come. Frigga had seen her murder Odin. No doubt the queen told Thor and Thor relayed the information to SHIELD. Waverly moved to place the phone to her ear when Loki snatched the device from her shaky grasp.

"What are you doing?" She snapped.

Loki crushed the pathetic human device in his god-like grip. Waverly's mouth dropped open as she watched the pieces of her phone fall to the concrete below. "What the hell?" She was almost yelling now, anger overcoming her overwhelming feelings of guilt and sadness.

"You cannot be in contact with your former agency," Loki said. He kicked the shards of the smartphone under a dumpster and strode off into the night. Waverly trotted after him, thankful that the dark masked their strange appearance.

"Dude, you just broke my phone. It was my brother!"

Loki whipped around and faced the girl. Leaning down so their faces were level, he said in a low voice, "You just killed a _god_ and you are worried about your insignificant phone?" Waverly dropped her gaze from Loki's once again.

Loki was overcome with another strange and annoying feeling; concern for Waverly? Couldn't be. Sighing with frustration, Loki scanned the buildings on the road before them. Glowing with cheap neon lights, Loki spotted what was called a hotel. He knew humans used these disgusting buildings to lodge themselves with other humans when their homes could not suffice. Loki strode over to the building, steering Waverly before him.

"Where are we going?" Waverly mumbled.

"This _hotel_." Loki answered. He couldn't keep the disgust from his voice.

"Why?"

Loki rolled his eyes. "Are you sure you didn't leave your mind on Asgard? It is night. We have traveled from another realm. You do not know where we are and I am unfamiliar with this area of your planet. We will rest for the night and then continue on to retrieve my spear at dawn."

Loki steered Waverly through the rotating door of the run down hotel. The night manager sat slumped at the desk, eyes scanning an issue of _Sport's Illustrated_. He looked up when Loki strode to the front desk and slapped his hand on the counter top.

"I require lodging."

The manager looked at Loki with a raised eyebrow. According to the gleaming badge on his faded sports jacket, his name was Carl.

Waverly watched nervously as Carl looked Loki up and down. "Let me handle this," Waverly whispered. She leaned on the desk and smiled at the hotel manager. "My friend and I need a room with two beds for the night."

"All out," Carl said flatly. His eyes remained on Loki, a hand nervously trailing towards the phone.

Waverly sighed. "A room with one bed then?"

"That'll be ninety-five dollars for the night. Credit card and identification?" Carl finally tore his eyes from Loki and pulled out the record book, prepared to take down Waverly's information.

Waverly looked from Carl to Loki, nervously. She forgot that she had no money with her. Or ID. "Um, we don't… we don't have any."

"Then you don't have a room," Carl snapped the record book closed with a snap.

Loki groaned in frustration and pushed Waverly aside. "Look, mortal," he leaned over the desk so his face was inches from Carl's. "We require a room and you will gladly lend us one for the night."

Carl pushed himself back, eyeing his phone that was now out of his reach. "Look dude, I don't know who you are or what you want but back off before I call the cops."

"Oh god," Waverly mumbled. "Loki, let's go."

Loki smiled evilly and straightened up. He looked Carl right in his watery, gray eyes. "Kind sir, I am not from around here and my mode of payment has been misplaced. I would be eternally grateful if you would provide us with free lodging for the night in your most," Loki waved his hands around him, "wonderful abode."

Carl's eyes glazed over and he nodded. "Okay," his voice was light and airy. Carl pulled a room key from a drawer under the desk and slid it across the smooth desk top towards Loki. "Room 207. Check out is at eleven o'clock."

Loki nodded and strode away from the desk, room key in hand.

Waverly looked from Carl to Loki. She jogged to catch up with the god. "What was that?"

"I am Silver Tongue, you said so yourself," Loki let a proud smile spread across his face.

"Well don't do that again," Waverly said, shivering. "You being nice is… creepier than you being an ass."

Loki handed the key to Waverly, unsure how to operate these Midgardian locks. He briefly wondered why he had not used his gift to manipulate Waverly into taking him to his spear. Again, the unsettling feeling that always cropped up when he thought of manipulating the girl nestled in the pit of his stomach. He pushed these thoughts from his mind for the time being and watched as Waverly slid the key into a slot. A light on the handle lit up green and Waverly pushed the door open.

Loki's nose scrunched up and the sight of the room. The wallpaper was peeling in spots, the blankets on the bed were worn and smelled of something terrible. The whole room felt cold and damp. For Asgard's sake, his cell was a better accommodation than this place.

Watching as Waverly explored the room, Loki suddenly felt tired. He had nearly been taken captive by his brethren, was restored his magic, and fled to another realm, all in the span of a few short hours. After sitting in his cell with nothing to do for months, Loki was exhausted.

Waverly returned from the small bathroom, a look of sheer disgust on her face. "This place is nasty."

Loki eyed the girl, then the bed, then the dismal floor. "I will sleep now. Please hush."

Waverly rolled her eyes. "Fine. You can have the bed."

Preparing himself for the torture that would be a terrible night in this dirty hotel room, Loki took up residence on the floor. "I may be the god of mischief but I am a gentlemen."

Waverly sighed and climbed into the bed. It creaked under even her slight weight. She laid her head on the musty scented pillow and closed her eyes. Instantly, a vision of Odin's bleeding chest and Frigga's screaming face filled her mind. Her eyes shot open. Looking through the dim light provided by the dirty window and the street light outside, Waverly watched Loki attempt to get comfortable on the floor. She sighed and closed her eyes again. She saw herself murdering Odin; she saw her brother's disappointment; she saw her job, her life, her future fading away. Waverly's eyes shot open again and she sat up, cradling her head in her hands. She fought back tears as the thought of Clint's anger and disappointment washed over her.

"I cannot sleep with you sniffling like a child," Loki mumbled from the floor.

Waverly took a shaky breath. Her face still buried, she rushed out her request before she could stop herself. "Will you sleep up here… with me?"

Loki sat up. "What?"

"Please?"

Loki groaned and pulled himself from the floor. He stood at the edge of the bed looking Waverly up and down. "Why?"

"I just… I don't want to be alone right now." Waverly's face was still hidden. She slid back into the pillows, eyes pressed tightly shut but face turned toward Loki.

Grumbling with annoyance, Loki laid next to the girl. She rolled over and placed her back against her chest. Loki felt vastly uncomfortable. The weight of Waverly beside him felt good but at the same time he felt uncomfortable. He still did not want to accept his feelings for the mortal but these infernal feelings were making themselves quite comfortable in his chest. Waverly's breathing soon slowed and Loki knew she fell into sleep. Loki shifted so he was more comfortable and he felt Waverly's head slide down the pillow to rest in the crook of his arm. An insubordinate smile spread across the god's face. Loki shook himself and closed his eyes, begging sleep to overtake his mind and rid himself of all these damned emotions.


	11. Chapter 11

**AN: So this is sort of a filler chapter before I can get to my next big idea so if this sucks, I'm sorry. I really don't have much else to say about this one. Please review!**

**I own nothing.**

Chapter Eleven:

Waverly awoke early the next morning. Eyes still closed, she dug herself further into the filthy blankets to try and push the reality of the last 24 hours from her mind. A heavy weight on her chest prevented her from doing so. _Wait a second… there is literally a weight on my chest._ Waverly opened her eyes and saw the slim but muscled arm of the god of mischief sprawled across her torso. She jerked up in surprise. Loki mumbled in his sleep and rolled over, his back to the girl. _Oh my god. I just slept with Loki._ Waverly held her head in her hands and rubbed her temples with her thumb. It wasn't like she had never slept with a guy before; she had, in both respects of the word. But this was freaking Loki, god of mischief! Waverly remembered how she had tried to sleep but was haunted by images of her murdering Odin. She had asked Loki to sleep with her; she didn't think he'd actually oblige.

Waverly slid herself quietly out of bed, to avoid waking Loki. She needed time to just think. She padded across the dusty carpet and gently closed the door to the bathroom. She lowered the toilet seat with the tips on her fingers and sat on the cool porcelain, letting her mind process everything that had happened to her recently.

She had killed a god. Not just a god; Odin for crying out loud. _Why, WHY did you kill him? Killing a god; I'm going to hell for sure._ Even though overwhelming guilt clutched Waverly's chest, she couldn't help but feel her actions were justified. She did what she had done to prevent Loki from being taken by his brethren to face justice or lead their army or whatever the hell it was they wanted. Thor and his soldiers were no where near the palace to defend Loki at the time, so Waverly acted as any SHIELD agent would and took matters into her own hands. _But SHIELD doesn't kill the good guys._ Waverly crossed the bathroom to the small sink and filled her hands with cold water. She splashed her face and looked at her reflection in the mirror.

_You can no longer be a SHIELD agent. Fury will kill you. What's done is done. You did what you did because you actually love Loki, damn it! You love the little bastard and now you have to face the consequences of your actions._

Waverly took a few deep, calming breaths and plunged her head into the sink. She washed her hair under the faucet using the small bottle of hotel shampoo. She would have loved to take a shower but you couldn't pay her to get in that disgusting thing. Once her hair was washed, she patted her face dry and wrapped her hair in the stiff towel to let it dry. She unzipped the top portion of her jumpsuit, tying the sleeves around her waist revealing the black tank top underneath.

Leaving the bathroom, Waverly noticed Loki was awake. He was sitting on the edge of the bed, looking curiously at a phone book.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

"Trying to discern our location."

Waverly took the phone book from Loki. They were somewhere in the southwestern region of the United States, she could tell that much. But where exactly, she wasn't sure. Waverly set the book aside and picked up the ancient remote that powered an equally ancient television. She pressed the button that was worn and simply read 'POW.'

Finding a news station, Waverly discovered they were in a small town in northern New Mexico. Figures; this was where Thor ended up when he came to Earth. Much to Waverly's discomfort, the aura created by her arrival with Loki had not gone unnoticed. The weather man was talking about atmospheric disturbances. SHIELD wasn't going to buy that bull shit. Waverly and Loki needed to get out of here before agents arrived to arrest them.

"Loki we need to get out of here."

Loki was already up and headed towards the door. "Are you going to take me to my spear?"

"Yes, fine," Waverly sighed. "But it'll take awhile. It's in the weapons vault of Avengers Tower."

"And where is that?"

"New York."

"And we are in…."

"New Mexico, Loki. It'll take at least three, maybe four days. And that's if we drive straight with out stopping." Waverly grabbed the blanket from the bed, a pillow, and the soap and shampoo. There was nothing else useful in the room. She shoved the blanket and pillow in Loki's hands and stuffed the toiletries in a pocked of her jumpsuit.

"Drive?" Loki echoed, following the girl out the door. He watched as Waverly balanced the key on the door handle and then took off for a back exit so they would not need to pass the front desk.

"Yeah. In a car," Waverly explained. "What? You want to take over this planet but you don't know what a car is?"

"I know what a car is," Loki sighed with irritation. "I lack the skills to, as your said, drive such a contraption. Can we not take horses?"

Waverly laughed. "All right. You find a horse. I'll meet you in New York. It'll take you a few weeks to get there."

Loki rolled his eyes. "Fine. Where can we acquire a mode of transport?"

The nervous and anxious feeling that had plagued Waverly since she had killed Odin returned. She knew how to hot wire a car, Clint had showed her. But she had never _stolen_ one. _God, get a grip. You fricken killed Odin, stealing a car is nothing._ "We'll have to steal one."

Waverly and Loki kept to the shadows. It was still early in the morning so thankfully, not many people were out and about to see their suspicious actions. Waverly led the god to what she assumed was the edge of town. She scanned their surroundings for a suitable car.

"That one," Loki said. Waverly followed his gaze to a gleaming emerald green Corvette parked in front of a doctor's office.

Waverly let out a dry chuckle. "I am not stealing a Corvette."

"A what?"

"Corvette. It's a kind of car. As much as I'd like one, we need to steal something a little less conspicuous.

"But that one suites my taste."

Waverly shook her head. "You have good taste, but no." Waverly continued her scan of the street. At the corner, near a decrepit building was a small compact car. It looked in decent condition and no one was around. "That one." She pointed at the black car. "You stay here, I'll go get it."

Loki watched Waverly slink across the street and finagle her way into the vehicle. She tinkered with some wires under the steering mechanism of the car. Watching Waverly, Loki realized there were many facets to the young girl. She was adopted and knew nothing of her heritage. She was trained by Clint and SHIELD but was no more a true agent than a school child. But, she could handle a gun and a knife and she brought herself to kill the All Father. Now, she could steal these human contraptions by playing with the inner workings. Loki had thought he had this girl figured out, but he had only grazed the surface.

As the engine roared to life on the car, Loki tugged at his left sleeve. That was the arm Waverly's head and rested on the previous night. It still smelled of her. Loki shifted uncomfortably in the shadows and Waverly maneuvered the car down the street to pick him up. It had felt good, her weight beside him, the rise and fall of her chest against him. He had felt at peace; like all those nights Frigga had soothed him to sleep or when he and Thor had pitched tents in the palace courtyard and fell asleep looking at the distant stars of the other realms.

Waverly must truly care for him; why else would she risk everything to her name by killing Odin for him? But did he care for her in the same way? Loki still wasn't sure. He did join her on the bed when she had asked. He couldn't deny that seeing her so discomforted made him squirm on the inside. And when he had joined her in the bed… At first he was vastly uncomfortable but as sleep began to over take him, he allowed the smile to rest on his face and he relaxed into the bed beside the girl. He vaguely remembered placing his arm across her waist before he closed his eyes. Maybe he did feel the same way about this girl. She had done something vastly against her morals, killing Odin; and he had, Loki searched for the word, _snuggled_ with her. The god of mischief had _snuggled_ a human girl. Try as he might, Loki could not bring himself to be angry with himself about this matter.

Waverly pulled the car up beside the god and Loki pulled the door open and climbed in. Waverly explained that the car was only a few years old but was in good condition. It was a sports model, whatever that was, so it had a decent engine, whatever that was. It was a manual; this term meant nothing to Loki. He watched curiously as the girl fiddled with a stick implanted in the floor of the car and maneuvered her feet around three lever type objects on the floor in front of her.

After a few hours of driving in silence, Waverly finally voiced a concern she had been having since Loki first mentioned his spear. "When I get you your spear, what are you going to do with it?"

"I can use it to teleport myself to the far reaches of this universe. I will build up my forces once again and rid the nine realms of the stain that is Jotunheim." Loki answered. He looked sideways at Waverly and upon seeing the look of fear on her face added, "I have no intent to control your mind."

Waverly nodded and focused her attention on the desolate road before them.

"What of you?" Loki asked. "What will you do now?"

Waverly hadn't thought of that. She was a criminal like Loki now. She couldn't return to SHIELD or her home. She couldn't go back to living on Asgard. She was a fugitive on multiple planets now. Waverly let out a deep sigh. "I don't know," she admitted. "Saving you essentially ruined my life."

Discomfort wormed its way into Loki's chest. He was a murderer, a criminal, a Frost Giant, a disgraced god. Waverly was good. She was what he once was. She loved those she cared about with a fire that could not be contained. She was just and moral. And he, he had ruined that for her. She could never have a life here now that she had killed Odin. And she had done it for him.

Loki dug his nails into the palms of his hands, frustrated with himself for feeling this way. He shouldn't care that her life was in ruins. He shouldn't care that she could be imprisoned or even killed for her crimes. But, the truth was, he did. The words slipped from his lips before he could process the implications of his offer. "You may join me."

"What?" Waverly looked at the god for a moment before focusing on the road once more. "Join you. On your quest to kill an entire race? I can't do that, Loki."

"Then merely come with me so that I may protect you."

"Oh lord, what?"

"If you stay on Midgard, surely you will face severe punishment for you actions. You restored my magic to me and are helping me retrieve my spear. I, as you humans say, owe you one. If you come with me, I will protect you from harm." Loki wasn't entirely surprised with himself when he realized he spoke these words with honesty.

Waverly sighed deeply. "I don't know," she said after a long silence. "We'll see what happens."

* * *

After several hours of driving, Waverly and Loki reached the border of New Mexico. Waverly pulled the car to the side of the road and consulted a map she had found in the car's glove box. As she was reading, Loki's stomach growled audibly.

"I require sustenance," Loki stated.

"We have no money," Waverly said, not looking up from the map. "We can't get any food. You're a god, can't you like, make some appear out of thin air?"

Loki sighed irritably. His legs were sore from sitting in this cramped vehicle for so long. The air was agonizingly warm here and the car's air conditioner wasn't functioning. Loki was hot, sweaty, hungry, and tired. "I cannot create food from nothing," Loki explained in a voice of strained calm. "I could create an illusion of a meal you could only dream about. It would not, however, provide any nourishment."

Now Waverly was the one sighing with annoyance. "Well then don't complain that you're hungry." Having figured out their route, Waverly folded up the map. Leaning across Loki's lap, she placed it back in the glove box.

"Can't you acquire some money?" Loki asked.

Waverly laughed. "All my money is back in my room in Avengers Tower. And I'd rather not add bank robbery to the list of things I can be arrested for. Murder and grand theft are enough."

The afternoon had dragged on with hungry bellies and irritable car mates. Loki rested his head on the cool glass of the passenger window. His green eyes drooped with sleep as they took in the desert like surroundings. Night was beginning to fall and Loki could see the faint glow of the first stars appearing in the sky.

Entering a small, dirty town, Waverly's stomach finally caved in. She steered the car into the nearly empty parking lot of a small diner. She put the car in park and shut off the engine with a few flicks of some wire.

"I thought obtaining food required money," Loki said dryly.

"It does. Look, you're the god of mischief, can't you do something to get us food?

Loki disentangled himself from the contraption that was called a seat belt. With a simple thought, he created the illusion of normal mortal clothes on his body. Even dressed as a mortal, he chose a dark suit with a deep, green shirt. Turning to the girl, Loki waved a hand in front of her. The illusion of a less conspicuous outfit was cast over Waverly as well.

"Okay, so we look normal, now what?" Waverly asked. She looked down at her new 'clothes.' She was dressed in the black skirt and green blouse she had worn during one of her first encounters with Loki. Odd that he remembered this outfit.

"Now we go inside and acquire some food." Loki exited the car and strode confidently towards the diner. Waverly quickly followed.

The pair was seated at a small booth in the corner of the restaurant. An overly perky waitress came by and took their order. Waverly chose for the pair of them, Loki simply looking at the menu with confusion. The god and the girl sat sipping water, waiting for their cheeseburgers and fries to arrive.

"So," Waverly said in a low voice, hunched over the table. "How exactly are we going to pay for this?"

"Do not worry," Loki said. His voice was low but he sat up tall in his seat, looking much like his former regal self. Waverly couldn't help but notice the odd looks they were getting.

"Can't you like slouch or something?" Waverly hissed. "And talk less formal please. People are staring."

Loki flashed Waverly his ever arrogant but oh so attractive smile. "Of course they are. Looks such as these cannot be found on this pathetic planet."

Waverly rolled her eyes but laughed all the same. "You are an arrogant little prick, aren't you?"

Their dinner arrived and in a few short moments, both Loki and Waverly had eaten everything on their plates. Loki had to admit that whatever it was they were eating was actually good, if a bit bland for his tastes. He drained the last of his water and looked around the diner. They were no longer getting suspicious glances.

"All right, Loki," Waverly whispered. "Now what?"

With a flourish of his hand, an illusion of Waverly sat beside the real girl, realistically sipping her drink. Another flourish and a Loki illusion was present next to the god of mischief.

"How does this…?" Waverly began. Loki silenced her by holding up his hand. Underneath the table, he placed his other hand on Waverly's knee. "What are –" Waverly didn't get to finish. With a sickening jolt, she and Loki had left the table of the diner and were seated in the car once again. Forcing her dinner to stay down, Waverly asked, "What the hell was that?"

"I cast an illusion of us so that the operators of the diner won't become suspicious until it is too late. Then I teleported us to the car," Loki explained. He strapped himself back into his seat.

"Hold on," Waverly said, "If you can teleport, why don't you just teleport us to New York?"

"Teleporting is difficult magic. To do it well, I require my spear. You felt how sick you were and I only transported us a few yards. From here to New York, it'd be a miracle if you survived the trip."

Waverly sighed. Magic was stupid in her opinion. If you couldn't use it whenever and however you wanted, why bother? Technology and a little street smarts seemed like much better tools to have. Waverly sparked the car's engine back to life and drove away from the small town.

Night had fully settled now and as they drove, both Waverly and Loki became transfixed by a spectacular display of lights in the night sky. Waverly pulled the car to the side of the road and stepped from the vehicle. The night air was cool on her face. She looked up at the green and blue aura shining high in the sky a few hundred miles ahead of them.

"What is that?" She asked Loki nervously.

Loki watched the aura. This was not some simple trick of the light caused by atmospheric gasses. This light was the light of other worldly beings traveling to Midgard. Loki had a sick feeling in his stomach that it wasn't Thor coming to look for him.

"Frost Giants," Loki finally answered in a low voice. He forced down the worry that was creeping into his chest and pretended not to notice the fear in Waverly's eyes.


	12. Chapter 12

**AN: I've gotten questions about when some of the other Avengers will appear in this story. That's coming up soon, I promise. Probably next chapter but if not then for sure by chapter 14. This is sort of another filler chapter but I'm trying to build up a few things before my next big thing. Please review and thanks to all who have reviewed so far! I hope you like!**

**I own nothing.**

Chapter Twelve:

"Frost Giants?" Waverly echoed.

Loki nodded slowly. "Most likely. I don't believe Thor is in any position to leave Asgard at the present time. If my brethren are truly after me, then they will no doubt continue their search in this realm." Loki tore his eyes away from the now fading lights and sat back down inside the car. Waverly slowly followed.

"They nearly destroyed Asgard trying to get you," Waverly said. "I don't think they'll be less kind here."

"Then drive," Loki said. "The sooner I have my spear, the sooner the Jotuns will no longer be a problem."

Waverly sighed and pushed down the sudden feeling of nausea that threatened to over take her. If the Frost Giants were here, surely SHIELD would be the first to respond. The Avengers would be assembled. Clint would have to fight these monsters. All because she helped Loki run away from them. Resting her head against the steering wheel, Waverly dug her thumbs into her closed eyes, a slew of emotions swirling around in her head.

"Are you ill?" Loki asked.

Waverly did not look up when she shook her head. It was getting hard to keep herself under control. She just wanted to cry. She wanted to cry and let everything out. She wanted Clint to tell her what to do and how to fix this mess. But there wasn't anything she could fix. Odin was dead. Loki had his magic back and was no doubt on his "conquer everything" trip again. And she; what was she now? For the first time in a long while, Waverly just felt alone. Tears began to roll down her cheeks.

"Loki," she whispered. "What have I done?"

Loki blinked in his seat. He was not entirely sure what was happening. Why were human females so emotional? Seeing Waverly upset caused him discomfort. This discomfort in turn irritated him. His irritation then led to guilt because he shouldn't feel irritated because he lov— cared for this girl. She had cared enough to help him escape and get his powers back, so now he must care for her. Loki would be in no one's debt, even if Waverly was a human.

_For Odin's sake!_ Loki yelled at himself. _She's not just a human to you any more. Why else would you have offered to take her with you? Why did you not put her under your control already? Why did you sleep with her? And why do you want to hold her and soothe her pain?_

For the life of him, Loki couldn't figure out how he was supposed to deal with this girl's emotions when he didn't even know what was going on in his own mind. It wasn't so much the fact that he might actually love this girl that bothered him, it was the fact that she simply made him confused. With her, he felt like the Loki that Thor had grown up with. He felt normal. He felt like himself. But there was still so much anger. Not even Waverly could rid him of that. Loki still felt that he was justified in his actions. He still hungered for power and control; to have what Thor was always destined to have. For the first time since he had discovered his true heritage, all Loki wanted was Frigga. He wanted to hear her calm and soothing voice. He needed her advice and her kind words of wisdom. Loki wasn't sure when it had happened, but he had come to forgive Odin's wife for her part in the lie that was his childhood. Waverly reminded him that at least Frigga's love for him was not a lie.

Loki ran a hand through his hair and sighed through his nose. He rubbed his temples. He was tired, confused, hungry again, and sick of sitting in this dreadful human contraption. Now, Waverly was in tears beside him and he was at a loss as to what to do now.

A conversation from Loki's not so distant past replayed itself in his mind.

"_He was sent to kill me. He made another call."_

Black Widow had said that about Hawkeye. Loki couldn't help but liken his and Waverly's situation with Natasha's story. He was the widow, Waverly was the hawk. How else would someone with such a clear definition of right and wrong, good and evil, have _killed_ someone in order to save him.

_Even if you don't love her,_ Loki thought,_ you're an ass if you don't return the gesture._

Sighing once more, Loki reached across the center console of the car and placed a hand on Waverly's shoulder. The girl sniffed and looked up at him. "You made a different call," he said simply.

Recognition flickered in Waverly's eyes. She sat up in her seat and wiped the tears from her eyes with the sleeve of her shirt. She nodded and then pulled the car back onto the road.

* * *

Waverly had been driving for hours. Loki had managed to doze off against the window of the passenger door. His mouth hung slightly open, his hair was in a disheveled mess around his face, and he was snoring lightly. Waverly blinked slowly. Her eyes jerked back open at the sound of a semi truck's horn. She swerved back into her lane and shook herself to wake up. The sudden jerking of the car woke Loki.

"We need to stop," Waverly said after a monstrous yawn. "There's no way I can drive straight through to New York. I need to sleep."

Loki opened his mouth to argue but changed his mind. He was tired as well. Even though the Frost Giant's had arrived in this realm, there had been no trouble, no sign of them yet. "Shall we find lodging as we did the other night?"

Waverly shrugged. "I still don't have money, genius. So yeah, I guess." Waverly pulled the car off the nearly deserted interstate and parked in one of the numerous motels surrounding the exit ramps. It was nearing three in the morning; no one was out to question their actions. Waverly and Loki slipped into a fairly empty looking motel and crossed the lobby to the night manager. This one's name was Lane.

"Ah, good evening, Madam Lane," Loki said in his charming voice. The night manager looked up from her desk and blushed at the god. "I require a room for my friend and I here. Our means of payment have been displaced due to an error with our…" Loki faltered for a moment.

"Luggage. Air port." Waverly hissed behind him.

"Due to an error with out luggage at the air port," Loki picked up, confidant as ever. And so, Loki manipulated the young manager into giving them a room for the night.

To both Loki and Waverly's pleasure, this room was much more bearable than the last one. This room was at least clean and did not smell of moldy wall paper and damp carpet. There was, however, only one bed.

Waverly eagerly took a shower in the small bathroom. This one was clean and she had no problems with it. Once she was cleaned, she felt much better, about everything. Guilt still clutched her stomach but she had accepted what she had done. Now she needed to move forward. She was an outlaw now, however clichéd it sounded. Maybe going with Loki on whatever twisted scheme he was about to unleash wasn't such a bad idea. They were both criminals now. Waverly didn't think she could handle a life of constantly running from authority unless she had someone with her. It didn't seem too bad, if that person was Loki.

Back in her jumpsuit and tank top, Waverly padded from the bathroom and found Loki asleep on the bed. She nudged his shoulder. The god blinked and looked up at her, a sleepy moan escaping from his lips. "What?"

"You're not going to be a _gentleman_ and give me the bed?" Waverly asked.

Loki rolled his eyes. "I have been cramped in that _car_ all day. I would like some amount of comfort. I didn't say I wouldn't share." Loki's sly smile was plastered across his face. Waverly couldn't help but smile at that statement. Was Loki actually suggesting they sleep together again? After he seemed so… displeased with the idea last night. He must have grown to like the idea because Waverly watched him slide over to make room for her next to him. She slipped under the covers to find he was sleeping bare chest-ed. Her face became a marvelous shade of pink.

"Oh this again," Loki said sarcastically. "Prudent little Waverly."

"Shut up," Waverly snapped playfully. "Don't flatter yourself. I've slept with guys before. Go to sleep." Waverly turned so her back was to Loki and exhaustion immediately overtook her.

Loki stayed awake awhile longer. He listened to the girl breath and watched the rise and fall of his chest. _You weak fool. You have come to have feelings for this girl. And not just feelings. You love her, for Asgard's sake! Did you not ask her, just this morning, to accompany you on your quest to destroy Jotunheim? Did you not imply more with that question? Did you not, all those nights ago, tell Thor she would be your queen?_ Loki had finally come to terms with the war of emotions that had been going on in his head for the past several weeks. He loved this girl. But he dare not let her know that.

* * *

Yawning, Loki sat up in bed. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and found Waverly sprawled across the bed beside him. Her hair was in a tangled mess and her mouth hung open. The room felt cold. Unnaturally so. Loki did not like the feel of things.

"Waverly," the god shook the girl by the shoulder.

"Nooo," Waverly groaned with sleep. She blindly brushed Loki's hand away and rolled over. "I'm tired you twit."

Loki sighed and his breath crystallized before him. This was not a good sign. He reached across the bed and grabbed the girl by the shoulders. He Loki forced her into a sitting position and she blinked angrily at him. "What the hell? I'm tired. You try driving for almost 24 hours straight."

"We must leave," Loki said. He extracted himself from the tangle of blankets and pulled Waverly out of bed along with him. He retrieved his human looking shirt from the chair in the corner of the room and quickly jammed it over his head. Meanwhile, Waverly was wrestling her hair into a more manageable state.

"Did you go all blue and frosty last night?" Waverly asked. "'Cause it's freezing in here."

It was then that two Frost Giants broke down the door to their room. Waverly's mouth dropped open. Loki was already on the move. He sent a blue blast of energy into the first giant's chest. The second leapt at him and Loki threw him over his shoulder. Before either giant could recover from the attack, Loki grabbed Waverly by the arm and ran from the room.

"What is going on?" Waverly panted as she ran beside the god. They thundered down the steps and out the heavy door into the bright morning sun. Warm sunlight washed over them and lifted the stifling cold that the Frost Giants had brought with them.

"We need to move much more quickly," Loki stated. He began searching the parking lot for their stolen car. "They have already tracked my location. I'm sure more of them will be here soon."

"Why didn't you just kill them?" Waverly asked. She too could not locate their vehicle.

"It would leave a trail for the others to follow. Where is that infernal car?" Loki stopped in the middle of the parking lot and began turning in circles, looking for the small black vehicle. He found it at the far end; frozen in a block of ice. "Oh lovely," he said sarcastically.

"What?" Waverly said, her eyes falling on the hunk of ice. "Can't you un-freeze it with magic or something?"

"Sure," Loki said, "If you'd like to drive a heaping mass of melted metal."

Waverly gritted her teeth. "Fine then. We need to find another."

Loki was already crossing the parking lot. At the car park near the motel entrance was small silver car and it was already running. The car's lone occupant stepped from the vehicle to slide a luggage cart back into the main door of the motel. Waverly followed the god. If the owner of the car was stupid enough to leave it while it was running, he deserved to have it stolen. Loki climbed into the passenger seat as the car's owner was turning back from the motel.

"Hey!" He yelled. "Dude what the hell are you doing? That's my car!"

And then Waverly was in the driver's seat. She shifted the car into drive and slammed her foot down on the accelerator. The car sped forward from the parking lot with a jolt. Loki's head bounced against the back of his seat. Waverly weaved her way through traffic until they were back on the interstate, going at a steady 80 miles per hour.

Once Waverly felt a sufficient amount of distance had been put between themselves and the Frost Giants, she slowed the car to a more reasonable speed and let out a long sigh.

"So," she said, glancing sideways at Loki, "Now what?"

"The plan remains the same. Fetch my spear." Loki said. He was rubbing the back of his head where it had slammed against the seat. "And please drive less recklessly in the future."

Suppressing the eye roll that Loki so often elicited from her, Waverly snorted in compliance. She put the car on cruise control and lifted her foot from the gas pedal. "We're headed in the right direction," she said, "But without a map, I'm not entirely sure how to get to New York. Look in the glove box and see if there's a map."

"The what?"

"Glove box." Seeing Loki's confused face, she sighed. "That thing in the dash board." Loki was still at a loss. "Right there. That latch. Open it and see if there's a map in there."

Loki fumbled with the glove box's latch until the contraption finally fell open. A strange pair of Midgardian eye wear fell at his feet followed by a crumpled heap of paper napkins. Some strange, squishy packets labeled 'ketchup' were also among the contents of the glove box. There was also some kind of manual that described the functions of the numerous buttons found in the vehicle. But nothing looked to Loki like the map Waverly had studied the previous day. "I see no map here," he said, shoving the contents back into the box and slamming it shut.

"Great," Waverly sighed. "I guess we'll have to stop and ask directions."

"You think that a wise move?" Loki questioned.

After bursting into a laughing fit, Waverly clamed herself with a deep sigh. "You have got to be kidding me."

"What?" Loki was confused. He didn't know what was humorous about their situation. They were essentially lost without a map and stopping to ask for directions could very well give them away to the authorities. After all, Loki's face wasn't exactly hard to forget after he had tried to enslave the planet.

Waverly shook her head. "Nothing. It's just, even on Asgard men apparently can't stop to ask for directions."

Loki felt annoyance flare up his cheeks. "I am not full of so much pride that I can not ask for directions. Please do not liken me to my pathetic mortal counterparts. I was merely suggesting that asking for directions could give away our position to those who are undoubtedly pursuing us."

"Hey, one of those pathetic counterparts is my brother. Obviously he wasn't so pathetic that you couldn't turn him into your own little flying monkey."

"How can one so small contain such high levels of irritation?" Loki dropped his head into the palm of his hand. He leaned against the cool glass of the window. At least the air conditioning in this car worked.

"If I'm so irritating, why do you want me to come with you once we get your spear thingy?" Waverly took a sideways glance at Loki and was pleased to see the look of confusion on his face. Sure, she may like him now, but that didn't mean she couldn't get pleasure out of annoying him. After all, he made himself such an easy target.

"Your company," Loki said in a slow voice of forced evenness, "Makes me feel like the Loki I once was."

Waverly felt the honesty in the god's words. So that's why he liked her. She made him feel good. Well, that's a good thing, right?

* * *

Silence had fallen between the two odd car mates. It was around mid-day and tempers were beginning to rise. Loki had been insistent on not stopping for directions so Waverly was angry with him. Both of them were hungry, having nothing to eat since the cheeseburgers that seemed ages ago. Having only slept for a few short hours, Waverly was becoming rather irritable and whenever Loki managed to doze off against the window, she would turn up the car stereo and blare rock music. Loki found this quite terrible. It wasn't so much the music, he rather liked that, but it was so loud and his head already throbbed with hunger.

The third time this occurred, Loki could no longer take any more. "Do that one more time and I will rip that infernal sound box from its mount and chuck it out the window."

Waverly rolled her eyes. "You don't even know how to open the window. If I can't sleep, you can't sleep. It's not my fault I'm the only one here who can drive."

"Well teach me," Loki snapped. "This mundane human task cannot be that hard to learn."

"Loki, there isn't enough patience on Earth and Asgard combined for me to teach you how to drive."

"Fine." Loki agreed. "Then can we at least listen to something that is not as headache inducing?"

Waverly sighed and reached for the scan button on the car's radio. She flipped through a few stations before something caught her attention. She swore she had heard the word "Avengers." Flipping back to the station, she hissed at Loki to be quiet.

"I wasn't even saying anything," the god objected.

"Hush!"

"_According to a statement released during a press conference this afternoon, the government agency, SHIELD, has decided to deploy the Avengers to deal with this other worldly attack. Witnesses of the attacks have compared them to the incident in New York with the Chituari and the former Asgardian prince, Loki. SHIELD is urging the public to be alert and stay in their homes. These new enemies are known to have the ability to freeze their victims. What their target is remains unclear but with the Avengers assembled, our world will soon be safe once more."_

Waverly shut off the radio. She looked sideways at Loki. "So we haven't been the only ones who have been attacked."

Loki shook his head. "Apparently not. Your agency has decided to send the Avengers to fight the Frost Giants."

"Do you think they can beat them?" Waverly asked. She couldn't hide the fear in her voice. She knew how murderous the Frost Giants were. The thought of Clint battling them made her stomach churn.

"Not without Thor," Loki said with honesty.

"Will Thor come to help?"

Loki sighed deeply and avoided looking at the girl. "Only if Asgard has not fallen to the beasts. But I fear that it has."


	13. Chapter 13

**AN: Sorry it took so long but once I started writing this, I couldn't stop. I hope you all like it. Next chapter we will get to see Clint's reaction to all of this. Thanks again to all who reviewed, favorited, alerted, etc.**

**I own nothing.**

Chapter Thirteen:

"What? Why do you think Asgard has fallen?" Waverly asked. She was so distracted by the current turn of events she had slowed the car to a dangerously slow speed for the interstate. As cars swerved around her and honked to show their annoyance, she pulled the small vehicle to the shoulder and put it in park.

Loki looked up at the evening sky. There was a mix of emotions swirling about him. During the attack, when he had fled with Waverly, signs were not good. The Jotuns has managed to advance to the heart of the realm. They had obviously been strengthening their army since Loki last saw them. With Hemidall frozen, more giants could enter Asgard if need be. And with Odin dead and Thor still as brash as ever, Loki felt Asgard might actually fall to her enemies this time. On one hand, Loki felt pleased that the high and mighty realm was finally brought to her knees. Thor's leadership would be questioned after this. That thought made Loki smile. But, on the other hand, he hated the Frost Giants. Their race deserved to be eradicated with him being the sole Frost Giant left alive. Their realm should be the fallen realm and they should be the ones who were being ruled over. Moreover, _he_ should be the one conquering Asgard. He should be the one to eliminate Odin and dethrone Thor. Asgard should bow to him.

"Loki?" Waverly's soft voice pulled Loki back to his present situation. The girl sounded scared and concerned and worry lines creased her beautiful face. Loki placed his hand over hers; she no longer flinched away from him but he felt goose-bumps erupt on the back on her hand.

"Waverly," he said in a low voice. This comforting thing, he'd never be good at it. "The Frost Giants are stronger than I have ever seen them. They have not ventured to Midgard for centuries of your human time. Things do not look well and I feel that Asgard has been brought to her knees."

Waverly breathed in a shuddering sigh. "So you don't think the Avengers can beat them?"

Loki thought about this for a moment. The Avengers, six individuals with extraordinary skill sets had beaten him and his _army _of Chituari warriors. But the Chituari were a weak race. Easily manipulated and conned into waging a war for him; willing to die when it was Loki who would hold all the power, not those infernal idiots. The Frost Giants were not as weak of a race. They had terrorized Midgard for millennia before Odin had put an end to their tyranny. On Midgard, though, their powers would be weakened. Being so far from their home realm and their power source, which thankfully was still locked up in Asgard, they would be much less powerful. But, if Asgard had fallen and the giants had retrieved their cube, there was no telling what damage could be done by the Jotuns.

The Avengers were a mighty force; especially when Thor was with them. But would Thor leave Asgard in her fallen state? He might; coming to Midgard to seek the aide of his fellow Avengers. Or, he may not; feeling too proud to seek others for help defending his realm. Then again, Thor may actually have been killed or captured during the battle so he would not have to make such a decision. The thought of Thor being killed caused an uncomfortable knot to form in Loki's stomach. Was he actually worried that his adoptive brother may be dead? Did he feel _sad_ that he may never see the god of thunder again? Loki's cheeks reddened and he dug his nails into the palms of his hands. Why was he feeling this way? He should be grateful that Thor is out of his way. Hadn't he even tried to eliminate the god when he sent the glass prison tumbling from the helicarrier? _But, you were consumed by hatred and anger then_, said a voice in the back of his mind. _You no longer feel those feelings towards Thor, your brother. The one you hate is Odin and he is dead._ As if imagined images of an angel and a devil appeared on his shoulders, Loki began debating with himself. _The truth of it is, Thor is not your brother. You should feel nothing but joy at the thought of his death. This simply means you are one step closer to ruling Asgard, as you should._

Loki uttered a deep growl and let his head fall into his hands. He shut his eyes tight and cursed all these stupid feelings coursing through him. He breathed long and even breaths, in through his nose and out through his mouth. The fact of the matter was, Loki had some serious thinking to do. He needed to sit and think and sort out all these damned emotions. But there was no time for that. Not if the Frost Giants were after him. What he needed now was his spear. He needed to get far away from the nine realms and plan his next move.

Waverly sat in the driver's seat and watched Loki. Her latest question remained unanswered and Loki looked like he was battling demons in his own head. Waverly watched as the god dropped his head into his hands and began breathing deeply, as if to calm himself. Sitting here while Loki was thinking was driving Waverly mad. At any moment Frost Giants could be among them. And sitting here while her brother was no doubt out battling the monsters created a feeling of nervousness that Waverly could not shake. Her leg began to bounce as it so often did when she was nervous.

Finally Loki looked up. He did not meet Waverly's eyes when he said, "Our goal remains the same. We get my spear. Drive."

"What about the Avengers?" Waverly asked quietly.

"They are no concern of mine."

"One of them is my brother!" Waverly yelled.

Loki turned to look at the girl. He had a distant, almost pained look in his eyes. "He is not your brother." Loki's voice was calm and steady.

Waverly didn't know if it was what he actually said or the casual tone of how he said it that set her off. Waverly felt the heat rising in her cheeks and she felt her breathing quicken. With a flash, she had shut the car off, opened her door, and was stalking down the highway shoulder.

Loki was after her in seconds. He cursed the girl's actions as car after car slowed to gape at the pair or honk their horns. "What on Midgard are you doing?" Loki called over the noise of the evening traffic.

"Find your damn spear yourself," Waverly yelled back.

Loki quickened his pace so that he was next to the girl. "Have you lost your mind?" He reached out and grabbed the girl's upper arm with his strong hand. He forced her to a stop and she began struggling to get him off of her. But, with his magic back, she would not be able to worm her way from his grasp. Loki twitched his fingers in a brief spell to strengthen his own grasp while weakening Waverly's strength.

The girl finally slumped in his hold and looked up at him. Her eyes were livid. "You let me go, Loki. Right now before I kick your ass."

"You cannot," Loki said calmly.

"God, I hate you!" Waverly yelled.

Loki was surprised at how much this comment stung. He took a breath and said in a voice of forced normalcy, "You are not in your right mind. If you leave me, Frost Giants will be on you like flies on a carcass. You will not stand a chance against them without me."

"They're after you, dumbass. Not me," Waverly spat.

"They know you have ties to me," Loki explained. "Those two back at that human lodge, they saw us, together. They will hunt you and force you into leading them to me. Or else kill you in the hopes of drawing me out of hiding."

Waverly rolled her eyes and looked away from Loki. "I am not tied to you." Loki felt the pain in the girl's voice.

"You will stay with me and take me to my spear." Loki began dragging Waverly back to the car.

Though the girl could not free herself of Loki's grasp, that didn't mean she couldn't still put up a struggle. "Let me go! I'm not doing anything else for you." Still, Loki forced her back to the car. He lifted Waverly by her arms and placed her in the driver's seat, strapping her seatbelt across her. He shut her door and put a spell on the locking mechanism to keep her from opening it. He then returned to the passenger seat.

"Please drive onward," Loki said.

"No!" Waverly yelled. "I will not! I killed someone for you, Loki! Killed him! I freaking murdered Odin to save you! I stole not one, but two cars, for you. I helped you con two different people into letting us stay at their hotels for free. I stole a meal with you. And I even told you where your damn spear is. I've betrayed my agency. All for you! And you… YOU can't even show any type of love for me! Can you? Just because you don't think Thor is your brother doesn't mean Clint isn't mine! I don't care if I'm an orphan and we don't share the same parents. Clint is my brother and I'm not going to let him get killed by a bunch of snowy freaks!" Waverly ended her outburst by tugging on the door handle to no avail.

Loki let his head drop against the back of his seat. He shut his eyes and in a voice so quiet, even Loki had trouble hearing the words, said, "I am sorry Waverly Barton."

"Well, let me tell you!" Waverly turned back to Loki, yelling again. "I… wait… what?"

"I'm sorry. You are right. Clint is your brother. I am sorry my words hurt you."

Waverly was totally at a loss. She had only ever heard of Loki apologizing once before and that instance concerned her as well. What was it about her that made Loki so… un-Loki-like? Did he really, actually care about her like Waverly secretly hoped? Were his displays of affection as true as hers? Why then, did he not care that her brother was in danger? She was worried for Thor's safety.

But Loki did not stop there. "You have done terrible things, because of your love for me. Do not think they have gone unnoticed. Please, help me retrieve my spear and I swear to protect you from any harm so long as you shall live. Let me repay you in this way."

Waverly sighed through her nose, pursing her lips shut. He would repay her by forcing her to stay with him until the day she died just so he could protect her. That didn't really sound like repaying her. It sounded more like forcing her to stay with him to set _his_ mind at ease, not hers. "Why don't you just put me under one of your spells and force me to get you your spear? Because I sure as hell won't do it willingly, now."

"You know I cannot put you under my control," Loki said in a low voice.

Waverly growled with frustration and let her head drop to the steering wheel. "So, you'll come with me to help the Avengers?"

"I said I was sorry, not that I would help."

"Clint is my brother!" Waverly yelled. "He's the only one I have."

"You have me," Loki said. His voice was quiet and he felt odd saying this. He knew it was true though. No matter how much he tried to fight it, he really cared about this human girl. He wanted to protect her, to keep her safe, to be near her. She made him feel normal. He wanted to feel that warmth her kisses left and he had grown to like the hungry feeling she had awakened inside of him.

Waverly's next comment felt like a bucket of ice dropping into the god's stomach. "No, Loki. I don't think I do."

"What do you mean?"

"If you love me like I love you, you won't make me choose between you and Clint."

Loki sighed and rubbed his temples. The girl had a point. Frigga never played favorites with him and Thor. Odin obviously did but Loki had no respect of the All Father. Frigga loved Loki and Thor equally. Her love was pure and honest. Love shouldn't make someone choose sides. If he loved Waverly, if he truly loved her, he would do anything to make her happy. Helping her brother would make her happy.

But, Loki was still the god of mischief. He wasn't going to make this easy for her just because she caused good feelings to stir inside him. "Waverly, you know you make me feel things that I thought I was incapable of feeling. I will help your brother defend this realm from the Jotuns." Waverly's face instantly brightened. Her mouth fell open in shock. Loki held up a hand to keep her silent. "If, and only if, I have my spear before going to their aide. I do not think it wise for someone in my, ah, position to face the Avengers unarmed." Waverly raised an eyebrow. "For my own good," Loki added at the look she gave him.

Waverly, still shocked about Loki's change of heart, remained silent for a few moments. Loki watched as lines creasing on her face indicated she was processing what he had just said. To his astonishment, tears were forming in her eyes. What on Midgard had he done now to make her upset?

In a flash of wavy brown hair, Waverly had hurled herself across the center console of the car and had thrown her arms around Loki's neck. For a human female, Loki had to admit she had a pretty strong grip. He felt her shudder with tears. He opened his mouth to ask what was the matter, but the words didn't get a chance to leave his mouth. Her lips were against his in an instant. She was warm and pushing herself into him as if she couldn't be close enough. Loki felt a surge of heat rush through his body. He put his arms around the girl's waist and leaned into her as well.

Finally, when Waverly could no longer be without air, she pulled away from him, gasping. Her face was flushed. "Thank you," she said quietly.

* * *

After the emotional roller coaster that was the second evening of their journey, Waverly had managed to drive straight on through the night and well into their third day of travel. From what she could assume, they were within 36 hours of New York, depending on how often they needed to stop. Throughout their journey, Waverly had been keeping track of all of the reports of Frost Giant attacks. Loki had been anxiously aware of the cold that seemed to be following them. The giants were on their tail. The sooner he had his spear, the better he would feel.

Currently, the pair sat at a dingy table in some eating establishment called a McDonald's. Loki's nose scrunched up at the low class aura of the place. Little kids ran barefoot in something called the 'Play Place,' screaming and waving whatever nuggets were in their grubby little hands. There were chickens on Asgard but Loki did not know what part the 'nugget' came from.

Loki peeled his shoes from the sticky floor and arranged himself more comfortably in the plastic booth they were seated at. He sipped the watery beverage called a soda from something called a straw while Waverly ate something dubbed a 'Big Mac.'

"So, I figure, we sleep somewhere in town tonight. I can drive us straight into New York City by tomorrow night. We stay in some hotel there and plan how we're going to get your spear. Then, the next night I can break into Avengers tower and get it." Waverly said this all in a low voice, her head bent over the table, inches from Loki's.

Loki nodded. He gingerly picked up a piece of fried potato. "That sounds reasonable. We have been outrunning the Frost Giants thus far, but I fear they are closing in on our location."

Waverly sighed in agreement. Loki looked up at her and locked his green eyes with her brown ones. "I will keep my word. Once we have my spear, we can determine how to best approach the Avengers."

The pair finished their dinners, if you could call it that, and left the restaurant just as Loki's magicked human currency disappeared from the cash drawer on the counter. He smiled at the thought of the silly humans, running around the place looking for their missing five dollars and twenty three cents. Loki had quite enjoyed conjuring up fake Midgardian money and using that to con his victims into free food and free lodging in the hotels. He had also managed to con their way into free gasoline, the smelly liquid that fueled their mode of transport. As Loki and Waverly crossed the quiet street of the little town they were currently staying in, the god magicked up another fist of the fake currency with a snap of his fingers.

Loki and Waverly walked into the small hotel. The god of mischief used his fake money and his oh so convincing charm to land them a room for the night. Loki had finally figured out these ridiculous human locks so the god led Waverly to their room and opened the door for her. They had come accustom to sleeping together so it was no longer awkward when the pair climbed into bed together. Waverly always fell asleep first, her head in the crook between Loki's chest and his arm. She would fall quickly into sleep and her slow and even breathing would lull Loki into a sense of peace. For the few moments before sleep overtook him, he could forget all the anger and pain that had frosted over his heart.

Tonight was no different. After they each took a quick shower, they climbed into bed. First Loki, then Waverly. The girl took her usual place in his arms only she did not fall asleep. Loki felt her heart beating against his chest.

"You are worried about something," Loki said. It was easy to read Waverly. Her tone of voice, the glint of her eyes, the pace of her heart; everything about her exuded some sort of hint to her current state of being.

"Do you think Clint will hate me?" Waverly asked. She was quiet and Loki could hear the strain of keeping her voice steady. The god remembered how young the girl was. With her voice so scared and worried, she seemed much like a little child; lost, scared, alone. Loki was surprised when an overwhelming urge to protect Waverly, to comfort her and keep her safe, washed over him. The god let his head slide down the pillow to rest against the top of hers.

"Even after all that I have done," he said carefully, "Thor has asked me to come home, to return to him and our mother. I have done far worse things that you have, my dear. Your brother will not hate you just as Thor does not hate me."

The truth of his words sunk into him. Thor didn't hate him. Loki knew he didn't. Why then, did Loki still feel so angry when he thought of his adoptive brother? Loki did not get to dwell on this thought for long. His words obviously reassured Waverly because she snuggled closer to his bare chest and her breathing soon transitioned into the slow, rhythmic breaths Loki knew so well. He too was soon calmed into sleep.

* * *

After a long day of driving, Loki felt his lips curl up when the skyline of New York City came into view. He could feel his trusted weapon's energy emanating from the city before him. He felt the familiar rush of magic swirling through his veins. Loki wasn't sure he could contain himself any longer. He wanted his spear now. But, Waverly had decided she should sneak into the weapons vault on her own. She would not attract too much suspicion and she knew all the access codes required to get there. The girl would need to be rested and ready to fight her way out if necessary. So, Loki settled with waiting just a little while longer for his spear.

Waverly pulled the car into the parking lot of a hotel just a few blocks away from Avengers tower. Loki procured them a room and from their window, the bright white 'A' of the former Stark Tower could be seen illuminating the night sky.

"So," Waverly said. Her voice drew Loki away from the window. "I was thinking, this time tomorrow, I go get your spear." Loki nodded so the girl continued. "It'll be easy enough for me to get in. I just hope Fury hasn't put out a bounty for me or anything yet. Seeing as you smashed my phone and there's no direct evidence that I killed Odin, hopefully SHEILD will just think I am missing in action, off tracking you or something." Another nod from Loki. "So, I'll just waltz in and get the thing. Getting out without anyone seeing will be hard. I don't think you should come with me but do you think you could do something about the security cameras so they don't see me walking out with your giant gold stick?"

Loki thought about it for a moment. He could cast an electrical pulse over the area which would no doubt jam anything that ran off of electricity in the building, even if it did run off Stark's sustainable energy contraption. "I can do that," he said.

"Okay." Waverly yawned. "Then it's settled. Tomorrow, you'll have your stick back."

* * *

Waverly crouched in the dark alley between two office buildings across the street from Avengers tower. It was nearing eleven o'clock in the evening. The sky was clear. Waverly had a nice view of the front doors of the tower. She watched as the second shift security patrol began flowing out of the building while here and there a third shift guard showed up. Waverly crept across the street, hiding behind parked cars along the way. Slipping in the main doors of the building was easy enough. She followed a burly man with heavy footsteps. No doubt he was hired simply for his brute strength. He flashed the ID badge on his jumpsuit and Waverly did the same. Next, was the thumb scan that got you inside the inner chambers of the building. Finally, a retina scan confirmed your security level clearance and allowed those with maximum clearance to enter the innermost sanctum of the tower. Being Clint's sister and Fury's secretary, Waverly's retina scan granted her clearance to every room in the building, including the weapons vault.

Rubbing her eye as she descended the metal stair case, Waverly kept her other eye open for any sign of trouble. She met none on her way down and made it to the vault quicker than she had thought. The plan was, Loki was to give her twenty minutes to reach the vault so that the electrical mechanisms protecting it would still be functioning. Then, he would cast an electrical field over the tower for ten minutes, allowing Waverly to escape with the spear.

The hallway before the weapons vault was empty so Waverly let herself into the lead lined chamber with another scan of her retina. She slipped between the rotating, steel doors that could crush even the Hulk and stepped into the room that contained the deadliest weapons on the face of the Earth.

Here was where Waverly's luck ran out. Two SHIELD agents were already in the vault, running one of the many systematic checks on the weapons to ensure they were not emanating any type of energy that could harm the occupants of the tower. Waverly, wishing she had a better poker face, walked with feigned confidence towards Loki's spear, as if to check the thing like usual.

One of the other agents turned at the sound of her footsteps. "I didn't know we'd have help tonight."

Waverly shrugged her shoulders. "The director thinks it'll be faster if there's more of us down here. You know he doesn't like people in here.'

The guards nodded. So far so good. Waverly had reached Loki's spear. She made a show of inspecting the thing, waiting for the other two to leave so she could steal it. But they didn't. In fact, one came over to join her.

"Scary, that thing is," he said. "The way it controlled Barton."

Waverly nodded, trying to avoid the man's gaze. She was unsuccessful. "Hey," the agent said. Waverly's stomach dropped as she heard the sound of comprehension in the man's voice. "Aren't you the girl Fury is looking for? Barton's sister?"

By now, the other agent had crossed the room, his hand to his chin in thought. "You're right. She does look like that chick."

Waverly let one of Loki's sly smiles cross her face. "You're right boys. You found me out. Now, if you don't mind, I need to get my boyfriend back his spear."

Waverly took the mere seconds of confusion her words provided to roundhouse kick one agent into the other, knocking them both to the floor. Upon hitting the concrete, one was instantly knocked unconscious. The other managed to get his communicator to his mouth and uttered a slurred, "Code Red. Weapons Vault," before also passing out.

Waverly snatched Loki's spear from its stand. She rushed to the door before the 'Code Red' could take place. The retina scan still allowed her to exit and she ran from the vault as the security lights flickered to life. A second later, they flickered out. Loki must have cast his spell. Waverly tore up the stairs of the building and forced her way out an emergency exit before SHIELD had fully activated its Code Red response team.

Waverly sprinted down to the next block and met Loki in another alley, between a dumpster and a rusty old car. Panting, she held the spear up to him.

Loki's eyes brightened and he felt the familiar tingle of magic that his spear always gave him. He clutched the cool, golden rod in his hand and smiled. The god of mischief was back.


	14. Chapter 14

**AN: This one is a little short but I couldn't put the next part in just yet so I had to stop it here. I hope I did Clint and Fury justice... Thanks again to those who have reviewed, altered, favorited, etc. I hope you like it.**

**I own nothing.**

Chapter Fourteen:

As he let another arrow loose from his bow, the familiar crackle of the director's voice buzzed to life in his ear. "Agent Barton, we request your presence back at base."

Without even turning to look, Clint shot a flaming arrow at a Frost Giant creeping up beside him. "Can't, director," he said, the words automatically being picked up by the communicator placed in his right ear. "We're up to our necks here in these slime balls."

Clint heard a rush of static as Director Fury sighed. "You will come as requested, Barton." Clint opened his mouth to argue once more but the director continued. "It's about your sister."

Clint didn't need to be told twice. He shot at a few more Frost Giants in his vicinity and then took off at a run. While he ran, he flipped his bow shut and contacted the rest of the Avengers via his ear piece. "Fury wants me back at base. Give 'em hell, I'll be back later. Steve, I'm borrowing your bike."

Not waiting for a response, Clint straddled the Captain's bike and revved the engine into life. He took off towards Avengers tower. He had been fighting a squadron of Frost Giants in one of New York's outer boroughs when Fury had summoned him. It was late at night and the sky was beginning to fade into the dull gray of early morning by the time Clint returned to base. Seeing the building in a panic, he left Steve's bike near the front entrance and took off at a run.

All the security mechanisms seemed to be malfunctioning. Clint wasn't required to show his badge, or scan his thumb or retina before he could gain access to Fury's office. The director was seated at his desk, back to the archer.

"Director, what's going on with my sister?" Clint couldn't keep the mix of emotions from his voice.

Fury swiveled his chair around to face Clint. He brushed a touch screen on his desk with a gloved hand and then turned the screen to Clint. "This," he began in his deep voice, "Was caught on our security cams before we lost all power. We've managed to get some of it back, which is why you can see this now."

Clint crossed the room and sat in the chair across from Fury. He was looking at video of the weapons vault. Two agents, he recognized their faces but did not know their names, were performing their usual check of the weapons confiscated from numerous villains. Then, Clint watched as the door to the vault opened and a small female agent entered the view of the camera. He recognized it instantly as his sister. The archer then watched with a sick feeling as his adoptive sister attacked the two agents in the vault and then stole Loki's spear. When the clip fizzled out, Clint looked up at Fury.

Without hesitation, he said, "The dude's controlling her. Just like he did me."

Fury shook his head. "I don't think so, Barton." Fury tapped the screen a few times. Waverly's face was now filling the screen. Her eyes were their usual brown, not the icy glint of one under the god of mischief's command.

"I don't care what your cameras picked up, she wouldn't turn on us like this." Clint's voice was raised and he wasn't quite sure who he was angry at. Fury for implying Waverly had betrayed them of her own free will; Loki for controlling and manipulating the girl; Waverly for allowing herself to be manipulated; or himself for allowing her to take on this mission in the first place.

Fury stood so that he was once again in command of the conversation. "I'll admit, the girl may be under Loki's control now. But at the time of Odin's death, she wasn't. I have just finally received a report from Thor. He cannot come down to help with these blue bastards because he's busy trying to get them out of Asgard. He said they are looking for Loki. Loki escaped his cell the night Odin died. Frigga swears to have seen Waverly stab the god in the heart. Now, she was seen stealing Loki's spear from our vault. Put two and two together, Barton."

"Well how do you know Loki wasn't controlling her when she killed Odin?"

"Thor explained it to mean. I really don't understand all this magic mumbo jumbo but he put it like this: Odin had stripped Loki of his power. Only Odin could return Loki's powers to him. However, if Odin died, the spell would be broken and Loki would get his magic back. So, to put it simply, Loki didn't even have the means to control Waverly before Odin died. She acted of her own free will." Fury watched as his telephone flew across the room, smashing a nice hole in his wall. He then continued to watch Clint rampage about his office, knocking over chairs and punching things.

"Clint," he said. His voice was a fraction less stern than it usually was. "You are an assassin. A spy. One of our best agents. And, you are an Avenger. You have to put your relationship with Waverly aside. She has been compromised. If the Frost Giants are here because they want Loki, and if she helped Loki escape Asgard, then Waverly is as much our target as Loki is. Understand?"

Clint clenched his teeth and balled his hands into fists to prevent them from shaking. Was this how Fury had acted when he was under the god's power? Why not try and get Waverly back? Hit her in the head; cognitive recalibration Natasha had called it. Clint didn't care what Thor or Fury or the stupid cameras told him. Waverly could hardly hurt the bad guys, there was no way she killed Odin. Still, Clint grumbled out an, "Affirmative," before leaving Fury's office. He had made up his mind. He didn't give a damn about what the Frost Giants were doing. He'd find his sister before any of the other Avengers could and he'd get Loki out of her head.

He got maybe three steps down the hall before Fury called him back. "She's here."

* * *

Waverly wasted no time reminding Loki that their next move was to approach the Avengers. With his spear in hand, Loki had a glint in his eyes that Waverly had never seen before. It was kind of scary, to be honest. The god seemed to radiate power. Loki clutched his spear in his hand and lifted it above his head. His mortal clothes faded away and he was dressed in his ridiculous golden armor.

"Okay Bambi," Waverly said, finally catching her breath. "Don't get too excite there. Now we gotta go find the Avengers." She slumped down to sit on the cool concrete of the alley floor. Tugging on the hem of Loki's deep, forest green cape, she persuaded the god to sit beside her. "You promised to help them," she reminded.

Loki gave the girl an irritated eye roll in return. "My magic is finally fully restored to me and my first task, play nice with those who would have me killed."

"You could be a little nicer to me. Seeing what I've just done for you and all."

Loki sighed. "You know I am grateful for your actions."

"Show me." Waverly commanded.

With a glow of his spear, Loki created the illusion of a deep, blood red rose that seemed to glitter in the light of the wee hours of the morning. He handed the flower to Waverly with a flourish and the girl's cheeks flushed a shade to rival the petals of the rose.

"Thank you, Waverly Barton."

Calming the butterflies that seemed to be attacking her stomach, Waverly took the rose from Loki. "Okay," she said, a little breathlessly, "Here's what I was thinking. Remember how you made those holograms of us back at that restaurant?"

"The what?"

"Holograms. You know, those versions of us that weren't us. You made them with your magic."

"Oh," Loki said with realization, "You mean the illusions.'

"Yeah, those. Is there a way that you could make some that could walk into Avengers Tower and talk to Fury and everyone?"

"Of course," Loki said. "The spell can be altered so that an illusion can do whatever I want them to do."

"So then make one of each of us and we'll have the illusions go talk to Fury."

Loki nodded. Pointing his spear at Waverly, the girl felt magic tingle across her skin as an illusion of herself appeared next to her. The real Waverly and the fake Waverly sized each other up. "Does my hair really look like that?" The two Waverlys asked.

Loki let out a low chuckle. "Yes. But I happen to like it that way." With a simple flick of his fingers Loki had created and illusion of himself as well.

"So like, how do we control them or whatever?" Waverly asked.

"They are an extension of your consciousness. Simply think what you what the illusion to do and it will do it. It may be hard for a human mind like yours. I can manipulate several illusions at once while still being in full control of my own actions." Loki explained. As he said this, the Loki illusion circled the real Waverly, running its fingers through her hair.

"A human mind like mine?" Waverly questioned.

"That's not what I meant. You are different."

"I'm kidding, I know what you mean. You know how to use magic, I don't. Let your illusion do most of the talking then. Mine will just follow along."

The Loki and Waverly illusions began heading towards Avengers Tower while the real Loki and Waverly hid themselves on a fire escape of an abandoned apartment building in the alley. Waverly's head was beginning to throb. She was aware of everything around her in the alley but her mind also knew what was going on around her illusion. It was difficult to control her illusion while still remembering what was going on around her. Twice Loki had to help her keep her balance on the ladder of the fire escape because she had been so consumed with what her illusion was doing. Once the two were safely hidden on the metal walkway, Waverly sat and closed her eyes, allowing her illusion to have her undivided attention. Loki, on the other hand, was inspecting his spear, making sure the humans had not damaged his beloved weapon.

* * *

Clint followed Fury down to the lobby of Avengers Tower. Agents were stationed around the perimeter of the room, guns trained on the two figures in the center of the room. One of them was Loki, in all his green and gold glory. The other was Waverly. Clint searched her face for any sign of Loki's control over her but the girl would not meet his eye. She wouldn't even look at him. Her eyes were fixed on her boots. Clint felt like a bucket of ice had dropped into his stomach. It was obvious Waverly was acting of her own free will. With a look, Fury commanded Clint to ready his bow. Clint did so and aimed expertly at Loki's right eye.

After a tense silence that seemed to last forever, Fury said, "You two have a lot of nerve coming here."

Loki rolled his eyes but Clint's lips tilted up in a smile when he saw the god nervously eyeing the tip of the arrow aimed at his face. "You call it nerve," Loki replied, "I call it purpose."

"Oh, this bull shit again." Now Fury was the one rolling his eyes. "Last time you tried to rule this planet, didn't my team hand your ass to you in a gift basket?"

"The beast caught me off guard," Loki said. You could almost feel the hatred in his voice. "My presence here has nothing to do with my past actions in this realm."

"And what about her," Clint said, finding his voice. He nodded towards his sister. "What the hell did you do to her?"

"I've done nothing."

"You lying little bastard." Clint let the arrow loose. Sure, Fury would be pissed, but if Loki was dead, his control over Waverly would be broken. Or so Clint hoped. He really didn't think he had it in him to bang his sister's head against a wall like Natasha had done to him. Clint's arrow flew silently through the air and went straight through Loki's eye. And by straight through, it was as if Loki wasn't even there. With a dull thud, Clint watched his arrow pass through the god and imbed itself in the wall on the other side of the room. "What the hell?"

Loki smiled. "Agent Barton, do you really think I'd walk in here exposed?"

"Come out and face me like a real man!"

"Barton, enough," Fury put a hand on Clint's chest to keep him in check. Turning back to Loki, Fury continued. "Listen Loki, you have five seconds to explain yourself. It had better be good."

Loki rolled his uninjured eyes and heaved a sigh. "The short version it is then. When Asgard was under attack by my brethren, Waverly killed Odin to restore my powers to me so that I might defend myself. We fled the realm and ended up here. Now, the Frost Giants are looking for me here, as you well know. I am offering my services to help eradicate the beasts from this realm, as well as Asgard."

Fury and Clint exchanged a glance. "Why the hell would we want your help?" Clint asked.

Finally Waverly looked up. "Please Clint, we're only here to help. I swear."

Clint met his sister's eyes. She looked like she was holding back tears. "Then… then you…"

Waverly nodded. "Yes, I killed Odin."

"What the hell?" Clint was yelling. In several short steps, he had spanned the space between him and his sister. He went to grab her by the shoulders, but like Loki and his arrow, he could not touch her. "Waverly what is going on?"

Waverly heaved an enormous sigh. "They were going to kill Loki. I did what I had to do."

"So what if they killed Loki." Clint was angry now. "Look what he did!"

Waverly's eyes dropped back down to the floor. "Clint, a lot has happened since I've been on Asgard."

Fury stepped between the two Bartons. "There is time for this later." The director turned back to Loki. "If we accept you help, what is it that you want?"

Loki shrugged. He looked uncomfortable. It was an odd sight. "I am doing this for the girl."

"What the hell does that mean?" Clint yelled.

"Later!" Fury pushed Clint a step back. With a narrowed eye, Fury studied Loki. "Is this one of your magic tricks?"

Loki's lips tilted in a smirk. "Even with only one eye, you can see through my ruse. You are indeed a gifted human."

Fury blinked. Was Loki complimenting him? In the words of Clint, what the hell was going on?

Loki continued. "Yes. This is an illusion. Waverly and I are hidden safely in a location away from here. We were not sure how well received our welcome would be, so sending in illusions of ourselves was a wise decision on our parts." Loki turned to Clint. "Seeing you brash actions, I feel our choice was the correct one."

Fury looked from Loki to Waverly to Clint. He was thinking. At one point, he had thought that Loki's talents would be a great addition to his team. That was a fleeting thought. It was clear that Loki wasn't one of the good guys. But, here he was now, offering them to help fight off the Frost Giants. What was it he had said? For the girl? What was going on between the god and his agent? Fury couldn't help but feel the familiar nervous twinge he had the last time a Barton had brought one of his enemies to him. He was worried then that it was a mistake, just as he was worried now. But, didn't Natasha become one of his most trusted agents? She was an Avenger now. Fury didn't question Waverly's judgment but he just couldn't see Loki being a good guy.

Fury's thoughts were interrupted by a voice in his ear piece. It was Rogers. "Director Fury. We are vastly outnumbered out here. There could potentially be a lot of civilian casualties if we don't get this situation under control. These things… they can freeze stuff. Stark's suite took a nasty beating from a few of 'em."

The illusion of Loki smiled at Fury. "It seems you are in a tight situation. Would you like to accept my offer? I will not ask again."

Fury took a very brief moment to weigh his options. Loki was offering his help and right now, the Avengers needed it. Fury could figure out Loki's motive after they cleared out this Frost Giant mess. "Rogers, I'm sending in back up," Fury finally said. "You won't believe your eyes. I can hardly believe it myself." Turning back to Loki and Waverly, Fury addressed them. "Clint will take you to the sight of the fight. Don't think this means you're off the hook. Either of you." Fury looked pointedly at Waverly. "I'll have my eye on both of you. One toe out of line and you will both be locked up faster than you can blink."


	15. Chapter 15

**AN: We'e almost at the big thing I have planned! If you think you know what it is, review with your guess! This one is a bit short and I suck and writing fighting scenes so I hope this is okay. Thanks for all the reviews, ect. Enjoy! Oh, by the way, Livarre is totally made up. I sort of was inspired to add him in after I read a fanfic about Loki where the Frost Giants were after him because the wanted an heir. Loki said that Laufey had many kids so there ya go.**

**I own nothing.**

Chapter Fifteen:

Clint was led by the Loki and Waverly illusions to the place the real Loki and Waverly had camped out. Loki was helping Waverly off the fire escape as the illusions faded into nothingness. Turning to face Clint, Loki smiled.

"Agent Barton, it's been too long." Loki said sarcastically. He held out his hand to shake Clint's.

Clint pushed it away and instead grabbed his sister by the forearm. "Are you hurt? Did he do anything to you?"

"I'm fine," Waverly said in a low voice. "Let's just get on with it."

Clint had about a thousand other questions he wanted answered, but there would be time for that later. Guiding his sister and unlikely new ally, Clint explained the situation. "The rest of the Avengers are still on site. The Frost Giants have done a lot of damage and have taken a few casualties. We're good fighting them at a distance, but when we get in range of their ice powers, it's bad."

"Frost breath," Loki said. "You can't let them touch you either."

"We gathered that much Captain Obvious," Clint said through clenched teeth. He climbed into the driver's seat of a Jeep and Waverly and Loki piled in after him. Clint took off, speeding through the streets of New York. As he drove, he surveyed Loki, whose face was visible in his rear-view mirror. "So, what's so special about you that having you on our team will make a difference?"

Loki's eyes locked with Clint's in the mirror. "Because I despise them."

"You despise humans too. Why not let us each kill each other?"

"I wish to rule Asgard and Midgard whereas the Frost Giants wish to destroy the realms," explained the god. "Therefore, for the time being, I will assist you and your friends."

"And what was that about doing this for her?" Clint nodded towards his sister. She still would not look him in the face. Clint supposed he may be being a bit harsh towards her. She was alive and unhurt. That's what was important. All this other nonsense could be figured out later.

Loki looked from Waverly to Clint. Of all people, Clint would be one of the last he would want to discuss his feelings for the human girl with. Though, he'd choose Clint over Thor. No doubt Thor would carry on like a simpering school girl at the thought of Loki being in love. Choosing his words carefully, Loki said, "I owe her a debt." For the love of Odin! Hadn't Natasha told him the same thing when she was trying to determine what Loki's plan for Clint was? It was bizarre really, how much his situation with Waverly mirrored her brother's situation with the Black Widow.

Loki's answer seemed to be sufficient for Clint because he remained silent for the remainder of the ride. As they neared the battle zone, Clint contacted Captain America over his communicator. "We're almost back, Cap. What's our situation status?"

Clint listened to Steve's response and parked the car. He pulled his bow out for himself and armed Waverly with a set of throwing knives and a hand gun. He left Loki alone with his spear.

"All right," Clint said. "The Avengers have most of the Frost Giants contained in these three blocks. All civilians left alive were moved out. Our goal is to eliminate the threat but capture their leader."

Waverly nodded. Loki seemed a bit unenthused with the last order. "Eradicating them all would be much simpler."

Clint seemed to agree. "Yeah, well, Fury wants to interrogate their leader."

"I will make no promises. If the chance to kill arises, I will step up to the opportunity." With that, Loki took off towards the sound of battle. His spear gleamed an eerie light blue in the early morning light. The god was only a few paces away when he turned back to the siblings. "Waverly," he said, "Do not let them touch you." That was as personal as Loki was willing to get with Clint around. In all actuality, he was worried about the human girl. From all she had told him, she knew nothing but basic self-defense. She was not a fighter like her brother. Though, she had brought herself to kill Odin. Perhaps she would be fine in this battle. Loki nodded at the girl and then turned away from her.

Clint hesitated before he rejoined the battle. He watched Loki walk off then looked at his sister. He said nothing but his gaze was questioning. Waverly looked up at him, finally meeting his eyes. "I made a different call." Clint instantly understood. He wasn't happy about it, but he understood.

The archer nodded. "All right then. Keep your eyes alert. Remember, attack from afar." Clint grasped his sister's shoulder before taking off at a run. Waverly followed but ducked into a nearby building and began scaling the steps. She would shoot from the roof. There, she would be out of the thick of the fighting and could hopefully keep an eye on both her brother and Loki.

Emerging on the roof, Waverly took in the scene below her. She could see Natasha and Tony firing at a group of giant's in the middle of a frosted over intersection. From behind an over turned car, Clint was readying his bow. A roar from the other side of the block alerted Waverly to the Hulk's position. She scanned the scene looking for Loki and Steve. Loki was nowhere to be seen but Waverly wasn't too worried about him just yet. Finally locating Steve, Waverly watched as he flung his shield at a Frost Giant while simultaneously trying to dodge the frosty breath of another. The shield sliced through the Frost Giant's middle, spewing deep red, almost black, blood over the ground. Waverly loaded her gun and shot at Steve's attacker.

Steve looked up for the source of the bullet that had saved him. When his eyes met Waverly, he saluted her and jumped back into the thick of battle. Waverly stayed on the roof for a while longer, shooting at the Frost Giants from afar. Clint had not given her any extra rounds so when she ran out of bullets, she placed the gun in its holster and ran back down the stairs of the building.

Out in the street, Waverly met Natasha. The girls looked at each other for a brief moment and Waverly could tell Natasha was analyzing her. Her friend no longer trusted her. "Nice to have you back," Natasha said. The words almost seemed forced. "Where's your boyfriend?"

Waverly shrugged. "I dunno. Can we talk about this later?"

Natasha performed a flying spinning kick that knocked out a Frost Giant that had been sneaking up behind her. "Sure," the former Russian said.

Waverly nodded at her and turned to let loose a throwing knife that pierced the heart of a giant several feet away. Where _was_ Loki? Waverly was starting to get nervous now. _Loki, you have to be okay. I didn't kill Odin for you to die here._

* * *

Loki had left the Bartons and strode confidently into the thick of battle. He avoided the main fighting arena, ignoring the odd glances from both Frost Giants and Avengers. Several giants had made a move for him but he had stopped them with a simple wave of his spear. One unfortunate Jotun got too close and Loki sliced his head off without even thinking twice. Loki had one target in mind and he was eager to reach him.

Loki found who he was looking for at the edge of the Avengers' secured area. He was standing atop a wrecked office building. His arms were crossed and his orange eyes surveyed the battle playing out around him. Loki teleported so that he was next to the Frost Giant.

"About time you showed up," the giant said in a gravelly voice. He looked down his nose at the runt giant.

"Nice to see you too," Loki said.

The Frost Giant uncrossed his arms and placed a hand on Loki's shoulder. Instantly, the god turned into his Jotun form. Orange eyes met orange eyes and the taller of the Frost Giants laughed. "Why do you keep yourself in that disgusting form?"

Loki shook himself and his skin faded back to its usual pale color. "You do not own mirrors on Jotunheim? I may not be a true Asgardian, but I'd rather look like this than like you."

"You are a disgrace," the giant said.

"What are you doing here?" Loki asked irritably. "I am here. Why not take me back to Jotunheim and be done with this realm?"

"Loki, you are a shameful example of a Frost Giant. Millennia ago, we stuck fear into the hearts of mortals. We ruled this world with an icy fist. Then, Odin took that from us. And now, just recently, you tried to take this realm for yourself. If anyone is to rule the humans, it should be the Frost Giants, as we have done in times of old. We will take this realm and crush it from existence."

"You are a pathetic race of creatures," Loki spat.

"And you are a disgrace and a stain on the name of Jotunheim. You killed your own father in a shameful attempt to please that monster, Odin." The Frost Giant had taken a step towards Loki, a hand clutching the collar of the god's shirt. "Then you try and take this planet for yourself. You failed miraculously. You are a failure to the Jotuns and the Asgardians. You deserve nothing but your untimely end."

"I have no plans to die today." Loki formed a blue ball of energy in his hand and shot it at his attacker. Loki watched the giant fly across the roof. Loki knew this individual, not by a former meeting, but by his reputation. This creature was Livarre; one of Laufey's older children. Livarre was the Frost Giant equivalent of Thor. Brash, arrogant, short tempered. He was one of the tallest giants on Jotunheim and had many female callers. He was the epitome of beauty on Jotunheim. And, he was Loki's brother; Loki's real brother. Loki had never met him, but he hated him. He had heard of Livarre. Loki shared his lust for power but Livarre lacked intelligence. He wanted to destroy the realms so that Jotunheim was the sole realm in existence. Loki knew to have power, you needed something to rule over. Loki hated Asgard and Midgard, but these realms deserved to be under his control, his power, his command. He would reshape them in his image. Livarre just wanted to destroy.

Livarre struggled back to his feet and sent a thin spear of ice flying across the roof to Loki. Loki shattered it into a thousand pieces with his own spear. Some of the shrapnel-like pieces cut across Loki's skin, causing him to bleed. He sent a jolt of blue electricity at his brother. The Frost Giant jumped to dodge it but the blast still clipped him on the foot. It caused Livarre to somersault through the air and tumble from the building. Loki knew he wasn't so lucky that the fall would kill his brother; it would just enrage him further. Loki jumped from the building, landing deftly beside the groaning form of Livarre.

With a blue flash, Livarre was standing, a hand around Loki's throat. Loki's skin turned blue and his eyes glowed orange. The god gasped for breath and Livarre smiled. As soon as the devilish grin spread across his face, it was gone. Hands were clasped around his neck and a low voice hissed in his ear. "You are no better than that oaf, Thor. Really, you know of my power, how could you fall for that?"

Loki lifted Livarre by the throat and threw him over his shoulder. There was crash as Livarre tumbled through the window of a donut shop. Loki heard the distinct rip of flesh on glass.

As in typical Frost Giant fashion, the fight did not stay fair. The giants fought dirty and soon Loki was outnumbered by Livarre's more faithful soldiers. Loki was trapped in a circle of his brethren, his brother standing across from him, smiling despite the blood dripping from his arms and legs.

"Playing dirty, I see," Loki said in a bored voice.

"You scared, brother?"

"I've been through worse."

The Frost Giants all descended as one on Loki. He may be a god, but outnumbered roughly eight to one was really stretching his abilities. He managed to throw off the first two giants and he skewered a third through the stomach, but the fourth and fifth grabbed him in a sort of headlock and Loki felt his spear being wrenched from his hand.

He was just beginning to be worried with his situation when he heard the wiz of an arrow as it flew through the air. The Frost Giant that had wrapped himself around Loki's neck fell to the ground with a thump, an arrow protruding from his eye.

The giant that had stolen Loki's spear was met with a flying knife that lodged itself in its neck. He too fell to the ground, the spear clattering at his feet.

The knife had come from Waverly. She was bleeding from just above her eyebrow and she was a disheveled mess. Loki assumed her brother was nearby, out of sight as usual, firing off arrows.

"Can't take my eyes off you for one second, can I?" Waverly called to the god.

Loki sent a blast of energy at a giant over Waverly's shoulder. "You should pay attention to yourself."

The girl and the god then took on the rest of the giant's that had surrounded Loki. The sound of battle grew intense and Loki noticed that most of the Frost Giants had come to Livarre's call and were battling here as one. The other Avengers were here, now. Loki watched the Hulk fling two giants into the air like rag dolls. Iron Man was blasting through Jotuns like a warm knife through butter.

Though he was allied with the humans he hated most of all, it felt good to be in battle again. Loki craved the rush of adrenalin caused by a good fight. It felt like old times, firing magic from his fists and eliminating his foes. A smile crossed the god's face as another Jotun fell to his spear.

As soon as the wonderful rush of battle settled over Loki's heart, an unsettling feeling crawled up the back of his neck. Loki took a moment to teleport himself to the edge of the fighting. He scanned the area for Waverly. Something just didn't feel right. Finally, his green eyes found her slight frame. She was cornered against the wall of a shop, a knife clutched in her hand. Two Frost Giants towered before her. One struck the knife from her hand while the other flung a vein of ice towards the girl's heart.

"Waverly!" Loki yelled. He heard his cry echoed from the roof of a nearby building. Clint was atop the building, an arrow already flying towards each of the Frost Giants.

The arrows would not hit their marks in time. It was too late. Loki watched with a horrible feeling in the pit of his stomach as Waverly flung her arm up in an attempt to protect herself. It would not be enough. The vein of ice would slice right through her arm and pierce the girl in the chest.

What happened next shocked everyone. Loki's mouth fell open at the sight and even from this distance, he could hear Waverly's surprised gasp. Even her attackers seemed stunned. As the girl's arm flew into the air, the vein of ice slowed to a stop and hovered before her. Waverly lifted her hand higher and the ice rose a few inches. She lowered her arm and the ice followed the motion. Waverly flung her fist through the air and watched as the ice followed her fist's path and went on to stab its maker in the heart.

It was then that Waverly collapsed on the ground, exhaustion overcoming her.


	16. Chapter 16

**AN: Another short one but since I finally reveal what Waverly is, I think that's good enough for this chapter. There's two ways I can take this story now and I'm not sure which one I'll pick yet. I might write both and post them both as alternate endings to this story, who knows. I hope Waverly's back story doesn't sound completely stupid. Hope you like.**

**I own nothing.**

Chapter Sixteen:

Waverly was sore all over. She was awake but she kept her eyes closed. She was cold but not uncomfortably so. Lying still on what felt like a hospital bed, Waverly tried to remember how she ended up here. The last thing she could recall was being cornered by two Frost Giants. Then everything went black. Did they touch her? Was she frozen? Waverly wriggled her fingers and toes. No, not frozen. What happened then?

Her head was pounding and trying to answer that question was made all the more difficult due to the sound of yelling voices. The sounds were a bit far off but Waverly strained her ears to hear what was going on. Maybe the voices would give her a clue as to how she landed in this bed.

"I can't believe you kept this a secret, from all of us!" That was Clint. Waverly could tell he was furious.

"When it was discovered she couldn't use her powers, we thought it best to just let it go." That voice was deep and calm. Fury maybe? Waverly couldn't tell for sure. That voice went on to say, "Besides, she wasn't agent material like you. You said so yourself, Barton. So I let her stay as my secretary."

"Can't use her powers?" Clint echoed. "What the hell just happened out there then?"

Powers. They were talking about someone using powers. But who? Her? No way. Waverly was sure they were talking about her; she was Fury's only secretary. But she didn't have powers. She was just a normal twenty year old. Wasn't she?

"I don't know what happened out there." That was Fury again. "The stress of battle probably triggered something inside her that caused her powers to awaken."

"I still don't see why you didn't tell her what she was." Clint sounded hurt. What did he mean by what she was? She was his sister… well adopted sister. But she was just a girl. There was nothing special about her. Waverly was confused. She rolled over and pulled the stiff hospital blanket over her head, begging sleep to take her once more.

The addition of a third voice to the conversation completely dashed Waverly's hope of sleep. She knew that voice anywhere. Loki. "I still do not understand how she came to have these powers."

"We're not entirely sure. There was once a project, Project X. It was an unapproved project by a private weapons company to identify mutant genes in humans and alter them so that humans could have abnormal powers. These humans would then be used as sort of super soldiers. Sort of a second Captain America project. The project was shut down by the government because of the questionable practices of the scientists involved." That was Fury. What in the hell was he talking about? Waverly pushed herself up on her elbows and opened her eyes, hoping to focus better on what the director was saying. She saw that she was in a hospital bed in the infirmary of Avengers Tower. Her door was slightly ajar and the voices seemed to be coming from down the hall.

"Like what?" Clint was talking again.

"When they lacked volunteers for their projects, they would take children form orphanages and homeless shelters to experiment on. The experiments themselves were… less than pleasant. We think, but we are not sure, that Waverly was one of these experiments."

"If she is some weapons experiment, why did the agency not keep her?" That was Loki again.

Waverly heard Fury sigh. "Your guess is as good as mine. Like I said, the project was shut down and most of the scientists arrested. Waverly was probably left to fend for herself."

"And that's when I found her," Clint added quietly.

Okay, just put the world on pause for a second. What in the name of everything holy ever was going on? Waverly's head was spinning and she felt like she was going to vomit. Fury was saying she was some kind of experiment. Her genes were altered so that she had super human powers. Fury must be smoking something. There was no way Waverly was a super hero. Someone new was talking. Steve.

"So, exactly how many times have people tried to replicate what Erskine had done? First, Banner's accident and now I'm finding out about this Project X. What can Waverly do, exactly?"

Fury suddenly sounded very tired. "We don't know. When we analyzed her DNA, searching for her parents, we found the altered gene. We tried countless stimuli to try and jog her powers, but nothing worked. The way her body aged seemed slightly slowed, that we know. And she has remarkable skill with knives, but that might just be a natural talent. From what we've seen today, I think she has be altered to control ice and snow. Sort of like our blue friends."

Waverly let herself drop back to the pillow. She must be delusional. Whatever happened to land her in this hospital bed was making her hear things. That was the most reasonable explanation. Soothed by this thought, Waverly let her sore body succumb to exhaustion and she fell asleep once more.

* * *

Loki just simply could not comprehend his current situation. He was standing in a hospital room in Avengers Tower, beside his former forced ally, Clint Barton. Lying on the bed before them was Waverly. She was asleep, breathing softly, lips slightly parted. Loki simply couldn't understand it. This girl, this insignificant little human had ice powers. She was some sort of experiment. It just didn't seem possible. Then again, perhaps that was why Loki could not freeze her so many nights ago. Her body was immune to the chill his touch should have caused.

"He should have told me," Clint said in a low voice. Loki tore his eyes from the girl to look at her brother. "Especially since I offered to take her in."

"The director keeps many things secret," Loki said. "He is the best at what he does."

"But don't you think she should know what she is?" Clint looked up at Loki. The archer was obviously confused about all that had happened in the last few hours.

Loki shrugged. "I should have been told what I was." Clint did not respond so Loki turned his gaze back to the sleeping girl. It all sort of made sense now, in a twisted sort of way. She wasn't a normal human. She wasn't your typical mortal. She was different, and that was why he was attracted to her. She could control snow and ice; that's why he couldn't freeze her. Loki knew it shouldn't matter; he loved the girl before he knew all this, but now, he felt much more at ease accepting his feelings for Waverly. She wasn't just some human. Loki found her even more attractive knowing she was somewhat like him.

Though Loki was quite content to continue gazing upon Waverly, he felt the archer's cold stare on the back of his head. Loki straightened up and turned to face Clint. "Is there something you wish to say to me?"

Clint brought himself to his full height, which was still significantly shorter than the god. He took a breath and said, "What did you do to her?"

Loki raised a dark eyebrow. "What?"

"What did you do to make her like you?" Clint elaborated. The archer sat himself on the foot of his sister's bed. "She hated you when she left. And now… well I don't know."

"I've done nothing to your sister, Agent Barton," Loki answered honestly. "Whatever feelings she has for me are her own." Loki crossed the chair stationed beside Waverly's bed. He locked gazes with the archer. Clint's expression was unreadable. He was looking slowly from Waverly to Loki.

An awkward pause settled between the two and Waverly shifted in her sleep. A small moan escaped her lips that sounded remarkably like 'Loki.' Loki couldn't stop the smile spreading across his face. Clint couldn't hide his disgust. Waverly continued twitching in her sleep, brows furrowed and fists clenched. Clint placed a hand on her knee. "Waverly, it's all right." His words had no effect.

Loki placed his slender hand over one of Waverly's thrashing fists. She relaxed and fell back into undisturbed sleep. Loki left his hand sitting on hers. Clint stood from the bed and stalked to the door. Reaching out for the handle, he stopped and groaned in annoyance.

"I was sent to kill Natasha," he said, turning back to the god and his sister.

Loki said nothing. He knew this but wanted to know where Clint was going with his story.

"I watched her for days. Knew her routine, tracked her movements. I was poised to kill her." The archer paused. He let Loki absorb his words and then continued. "I armed my bow. Just as I was about to let my arrow fly, she turned to me. Her eyes locked on me and I knew she knew I was there. I just couldn't do it. I couldn't kill her."

Loki nodded but still remained silent.

Clint continued. "I was already a SHIELD agent. She was one of our most wanted. She was to be brought in dead. There was no 'alive' option for her. She was _the_ enemy at the time. But I couldn't do it."

"You made a different call," Loki said. Asgard's sake, it felt like the thousandth time this phrase had to have been used. Loki had to chuckle at the mixed look of confusion and comprehension that occupied Clint's face.

The archer remained where he was. He looked at his sister, her hand still covered by Loki's. He trusted his sister; he always had. Besides Natasha, she was the only one whose hands Clint felt safe putting his life in. Sure, he was worried when she volunteered to babysit Loki; but he knew she was strong enough for the task. Her judgment had never been questioned before. If she saw something in Loki, then there must be _something _in him. Though, Clint had to admit whatever it was it must be very small.

Finally, Clint let out a frustrated sigh. He could hardly believe the words were about to leave his lips. "Then she really loves you."

Loki nodded.

"And you love her?"

Loki paused. He knew the answer but he hadn't said it out loud. Not even to Waverly.

"Loki?" Clint pressed.

"I suppose that is the title for this feeling."

In a flash, Clint was back beside his sister. He grabbed the collar of Loki's cape and pulled the god's face up so that their eyes were level. "Listen here, god of mischief, she is my sister. I don't care what Fury says. I practically raised her. You hurt her, you so much as make her cry, I will kill you. Mark my words. You hurt her, it will be the_ last_ thing you ever do." Clint released Loki a little more harshly than was necessary. The god's head knocked against the back of his chair with a thud. But Clint wasn't finished. "I don't know what she sees in you, what made her kill Odin for you, but there must be something there. I trust Waverly. If you do anything she doesn't like and I find out about it, your pathetic existence will come to an end. I still have a flaming arrow with your name on it."

Clint and Loki met gazes for a moment before Clint finally let his expression soften in the slightest. He then turned away from the god once more and made for the door. He opened it, stepped out, and shut it softly.

Loki rubbed the back of his head. He was really off his game today. He should have snapped the insolent agent's neck. Waverly would not like that, though. And it's not as if Clint really harmed him. Besides, the arrogant archer hadn't even condemned the god's feelings for the girl. He merely stated that if Loki hurt Waverly, he would kill him. Loki scoffed. The idea of Clint killing his was laughable; for two reasons. One; the puny little SHIELD agent was nothing without his arrows, which Loki could easily dodge. Two; though he had thought of killing her in the past, though he had hurt her several times before, now, the thought of harming Waverly made Loki feel sick.

Loki turned his emerald gaze back to the girl. She had rolled over again so that she was facing him. Her hand had clasped around one of his fingers. Her breathing grew more rapid and her eyes slowly fluttered open.

"L-loki?" Waverly rubber her eyes with her free hand. "God, what happened? I feel like shit."

Loki withdrew his hand and let Waverly sit up in her bed. "You do not remember?"

"No."

"I am not sure if I'm the one who should tell you this," Loki said slowly.

"Tell me what?" Waverly asked. A worried expression creased her face. She sat up against the headboard of her bed and glared at Loki. "Tell me what? What happened?" The fuzzy memory of the overheard conversation made itself present in Waverly's mind. Project X. The experiment. Her powers. "Oh my god," she mumbled. She felt dizzy again. She rested her hands on her knees and dropped her head into her palms. "Oh god. I'm some kind of freak, aren't I?"

The fact that Waverly had described herself as a freak unsettled Loki. If her powers were true to what Fury claimed, then Waverly shared many of the abilities of the Frost Giant form of Loki. Did she think him a freak as well?

"You are not a freak," Loki said in an even voice. "You are someone who has been mistreated."

Waverly lifted her head and let it fall back against the headboard. She stared up at the ceiling. "I thought it was bad enough I was adopted, that I had no parents. But I'm some kind of military experiment." Waverly sounded hurt and confused and even angry. She lifted her hands and studied them as if looking at them for the first time. "I didn't know. I never knew. And all this time… this whole time… Fury knew. And he didn't tell me!"

All the hurt Loki felt since discovering Odin's lie, all the pain, all the confusion, Loki saw all these things reflected in Waverly's eyes. He watched as the girl balled up her fists and punched the mattress of her bed.

"That ass hole!" Waverly threw the blanket off her bed. "Now I know why you tried to take over everything." She looked up at Loki. "It hurts. It really sucks. I am so pissed off right now."

Still not one for comfort, Loki simply said, "I understand completely."

Despite still feeling sore and tired, Waverly swung her legs over the side of her bed and placed her bare feet on the cold infirmary floor. She swayed and Loki reached up to steady her. Waverly brushed him away. "I am going to find Fury and I am going to…" She trailed off.

"Going to what?"

Waverly growled through clenched teeth. "I don't know! Something! I'm not one of his little pawns. He shouldn't have kept this from me. I didn't sign up for this. I'm not Steve Rogers. I was kidnapped and forced into this." Waverly swayed again as memories that she had been repressing for sixteen years finally flooded back into her mind. Loki steadied her again.

Clutching her chest, Waverly began to hyperventilate. Tears gathered at the corners of her eyes and though she tried to hold back everything but her anger, she couldn't. She gripped Loki's arm for fear she'd collapse. "They came in and took me. Took me from my bed." Sobs starting chocking their way from her throat.

Loki forced Waverly to sit on the bed and he sat beside her. The god knew her pain. Anger, hurt, sadness, betrayal; these feelings he knew and understood. But, seeing her in such discomfort made him vastly uncomfortable. He allowed her to drop her head to his shoulder and cry into his armor.

"Oh god," She moaned. "I don't even know what I am anymore."

Loki gingerly put and arm around her and intertwined his fingers with her hair. "You are Waverly Barton. Clint's sister, agent of SHIELD." Loki let his voice drop to barely more than a whisper. He had the overwhelming urge to tell Waverly he loved her but at the same time, he didn't want to voice his feelings and make them real. The words left his lips in such a hushed tone, Loki half hoped she didn't hear them. "And I love you."


	17. Chapter 17

**AN: Soooo... this wasn't at all the direction I was going with this but after reading some of the reviews, I changed my mind. There could still be two possible endings and I'm not sure which one I'll go with but it'll take awhile to get there so... yeah. Thanks to all the reviews, favorites, everything! It's awesome! I hope you like.**

**I own nothing.**

Chapter Seventeen:

Waverly choked back a sob and tried to process what she had just heard. Loki said he loved her. The god of mischief said he loved her. Ever since they kissed and he had awakened that instinctual hunger inside her, she had hoped he loved her the way she loved him. And now he had said it.

"Really?" Waverly whispered.

Loki nodded. The powerful god suddenly looked very naïve and childlike. His pale cheeks were highlighted by the faintest shade of pink and he would not look at the girl. All the magic he had, all the power, his feelings of rage and anger, pain and hurt, yet this god had never felt love like this before. He had been with women but never in any serious way. Waverly had to laugh.

"You find this funny?" Loki asked.

Waverly brushed the tears from her eyes and hiccupped. "No. You just, you really haven't been in love before, have you?"

Loki shook his head. "That amuses you? It is not like I am undesirable. I've had many female admirers on Asgard. I have been with women before."

"But you've never been in a relationship, have you?" Waverly snickered.

"This is not something to be laughed at. I found love trivial and childish. I had no need for it. If I wanted a woman, I would have had one."

"Okay, okay, calm down. I'm just kidding."

"You see!" Loki said. He sounded frustrated but his lips were tilted in the smallest of smiles. "You are not like any girl I have met, here or on Asgard. You… gah, you…"

Waverly laughed again. "I told you I wanted to make you squirm."

"Yes well, it is only that you are practically a Frost Giant that I am attracted to you."

Waverly rolled her eyes. Loki just couldn't admit he simply loved her for her, could he? Well, whatever. He had said it and Waverly knew it was true. Or she hoped. She was so emotionally messed up right now she wasn't quite sure of anything. The only thing she was certain of at that moment was that she was furious with Fury.

Sighing, Waverly lifted Loki's arms off of her and stood back up. "I need to go talk to Fury," she said.

"Will you be all right?"

"I'll be fine."

Waverly padded barefoot through the halls of Avengers Tower. The building was quiet, power finally fully restored after Loki had disrupted it. A few SHIELD agents cast Waverly suspicious glances while she roamed the halls, but no one approached her. She was glad; she really wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone besides Fury at the moment.

Her retina scan cleared her to the upper levels of the tower and she walked the familiar path to Fury's office. As she approached his door, she saw that it was slightly ajar and heated voices were coming from inside.

"You can't just assume she'll want to do it." That was Clint. Waverly stopped just short of the door. She paused, debating whether to keep listening or enter the room. She decided to eavesdrop a little longer.

"Clint, she has no choice. Either she agrees to this or we arrest her. She killed Odin and helped Loki escape." Fury. That ass.

"Director, with all due respect, the Frost Giant threat has not been eliminated. With Loki on our side, we stand a much greater chance at eliminating them. You saw how well he can battle them." Natasha; Waverly had to smile at the assassin's defense of Loki.

Another voice stepped in. "I think she had her intentions in the right place. From what I've heard, it's not the first time an agent has befriended one of the bad guys."

"You think it wise, Steve, to have Loki on our team?" The ever cautious Dr. Banner.

"Not on our team. We just need his help."

"Waverly apparently has all the powers the Frost Giants have. We can use her and lock up Loki. I think there's still a cell with the other guy's name on it somewhere in here."

"What needs to be done is everyone needs to stop treating her like some pawn." Clint was jumping to his sister's defense like always.

"He's right." Steve again. "The girl didn't volunteer for this like I did."

A computerized voice interrupted the Avengers' argument. "Sir, the girl in question had been eavesdropping for some time now. Shall I invite her in?"

Waverly heard Tony laugh. "I figured as much. Hey, ice princess, get in here."

Waverly groaned and pushed the door open. She walked into Fury's office, aware of multiple pairs of eyes locked on her.

"Waverly, are you feeling okay?" Clint stepped forward and forced Waverly into a chair.

"I'm fine."

"Are you really?" Steve asked.

Waverly's eyes hardened and she looked across the smooth wooden top of Fury's desk. The director was seated in his high backed chair, elbows on the desk with his hands folded and his chin rested on them in thought. His one eye looked intensely at Waverly. "No," she said. "No, I'm not all right. I'm pissed ad hell."

The room replied with silence. Waverly stood up and leaned on Fury's desk, leaning in close to his face. "Where do you get off keeping this from me?"

"Clint didn't tell you that you were adopted until you were eighteen." Fury replied lamely. His eye stared unblinkingly at Waverly.

"Yeah, that's a tad understandable. But, if you remember, I was pissed at him too. You, Fury, I am so mad at you right now. I grew up in this agency. I grew up around super heroes and spies and assassins and all I ever was to you was a secretary. Yeah, I never liked killing people, but I felt useless here. Watching Clint and Natasha and everybody do incredible things while I got you coffee and filed your papers. And that whole time, the hole freakin' time, I was one of them. You could have told me what I am."

"You couldn't use your powers and at the time, we didn't even know what they were. It was best to drop it."

"I could have trained! I could have learned!"

Fury rose as well. "We tried various stimuli. Nothing brought about a response."

"Well I just had one!" Waverly yelled. She gestured out the window. "You kept it your little secret, just like you kept your plans for the Tesseract a secret. I'm not one of your little toys, Fury. You kept what I was a secret from me my whole life. And now you're sitting here planning my next move like I'm your lap dog or something!"

"Waverly," Clint said warningly, "We know you're mad. I'm mad too. But you need to calm down."

"Let her go Legolas," Tony said. He leaned back in the chair next to Waverly and propped his feet up on the corner of Fury's desk. "I wanna see where this is going."

"Where is this going, Agent. Please enlighten me." Fury sat back down and looked up at Waverly. His voice was irritatingly calm.

"I quit."

Fury blinked his one eye. He was not expecting that. "You what?"

"I quit. I'm not your agent. I won't play your games. Arrest me, I don't care. Loki will break me out."

"Waverly," Clint said. He stepped between his sister and the director. The archer placed his hands on Waverly's shoulders and made her look him in the eye. "You're still upset over everything. You need to get back to your bed and rest. You don't know what you're saying."

"No Clint, I know what I'm saying." Waverly brushed her brother off of her.

"Waverly, you need to think rationally." Natasha had joined the conversation. She took a step towards the siblings. "You are a SHILED agent. Think with your mind. Not your heart."

"You know," Waverly said, a mad little smile twisting her face. "I can see why Loki's so messed up. I'm not saying what he did was right, but I can see why he did that."

"You don't mean that, Waverly," Steve said.

Waverly turned to look at him. Of the people in this room, right now it seemed only Clint and Steve were genuinely concerned for Waverly's feelings. The captain's blue eyes were soft and his voice was calm.

Waverly sighed. "I don't know, Steve," she said.

"What do you know?" Tony asked.

"That I'm mad."

"Damn right. You should be."

"Don't encourage her, Stark." Bruce crossed his arms and glared at Tony.

"Well, she should be!" Tony affirmed. He sat up in his seat and pointed at Fury. "Cyclops over here has secrets upon secrets. How many times do I have to tell you all this? JARVIS, look up Waverly's file for me."

The AI complied and soon, Tony scrolled through Waverly's file on his phone. His free hand was to his chin and every so often he nodded and gave an intrigued "Hmm."

"What?" Waverly snapped.

Tony ignored her and turned to Fury. "Didn't know her powers, huh? It says here that once you had analyzed her gene, you narrowed things down quite a bit."

Fury stared at Tony, his face expressionless.

"Apparently, SHIELD was involved in the earlier activities of Project X," Tony continued. "You helped the scientists create various serums. Super strength, telekinesis, pyrokinesis. Want me to continue?"

"You were involved with this?" Steve asked.

Fury remained silent so Tony read on. "You backed out of the project once you saw the government was less than pleased with Project X's work. But, you let them keep your serums."

"After Banner's accident, we stopped supplying them with serum." Fury countered.

"But they still had loads of the stuff," Tony said. "So you knew Waverly's powers were element based. But you couldn't figure them out exactly."

Fury sighed. "When the government shut down the project, Waverly was still just a child. She must have just received her serum injections. The agency hadn't taught her to control her powers. So we couldn't get her to use them, no matter what we did."

Tony raised an eyebrow. "Really, looks to me like you were pretty close with the water thing."

"What water thing?" Waverly asked.

Fury gave stark a cold glare. "SHIELD's actions have not always been…"

"Ethical?" Tony suggested.

"One could say that." Fury stood from his desk and began to pace the room. "We tried everything. We put her in a room on fire; held her underwater until she reached her limit; buried her in sand."

Waverly's face paled. She dropped into her seat and put her head in her hands. Tears fell silently from her eyes. She remembered now. It was fuzzy and vague, but she remembered. The room of fire, almost drowning, choking on sand. All the nightmares she had as a child stemmed from these repressed instances. Waverly closed her eyes tighter fighting between sadness and anger. She could hear Clint and Fury shouting at each other and every so often she heard Natasha's level voice. But what they were saying, Waverly didn't care to know. She felt so hurt, so betrayed, so angry right now. They could have killed her; the scientists from Project X and the SHIELD agents. But no one seemed to care. They used her like they used the Tesseract. She wasn't a helpless orphan to them. She was guiney pig; a science experiment.

A strong hand gripped her shoulder. Waverly dropped her hands a fraction of an inch and looked up to see Steve standing over her. His hand was on his shoulder and he smiled sadly at her.

While the others were still yelling, he bent down so his face was level with the girl's. "It seems SHIELD has mistreated most of us." Steven remembered the hurt and confusion he felt when he woke up after being incased in ice for 70 years.

Waverly nodded. "Loki has been mistreated too," she whispered.

Steve dropped his gaze. He felt for the girl, he really did. But to liken Loki to one of them… sure they were all mistreated but none of them had tried to eradicate an entire race. Steve really felt uncomfortable at the thought of Loki fighting alongside the Avengers but the god's powers really gave them one up on the Frost Giants.

Steve opened his mouth to continue his conversation with Waverly when JARVIS's voice rang across the room.

"Sir, there has been a security breach in the infirmary."

"Well boys and girls, time to suit up." Tony strode from the room, placing the metal bracelets on his wrists. From the hall, the sounds of the metal suit clanking into place over his body could be heard.

With a flash, Clint and Natasha armed themselves. Steve pulled his mask over his face and grabbed his shield which had been lying in the corner of the room. Fury grabbed a gun from a drawer of his desk and quickly left the room.

Waverly sat in her chair and looked at the only remaining occupant of the room. Dr. Banner. Bruce looked at her thoughtfully.

"It sucks, doesn't it? Being an experiment," he said is his quiet, calm voice.

Waverly nodded. "But you wanted to do this. I didn't."

"I wanted to replicate what they did to Steve. I didn't want to be turned into a monster."

"But you're not a monster."

"Not anymore." With that, Bruce stood up and left the room. As he walked, Waverly saw his skin begin to turn green and heard the rip of fabric as the Hulk's body expanded in the doctor's clothes.

Waverly stayed in Fury's office. Whatever Frost Giants were stupid enough to break into Avengers Tower could easily be eliminated by the super heroes that had just left. They didn't need her help and right now, Waverly didn't feel like giving it. She didn't want the Frost Giants to win or anything, but right now, SHIELD seemed just as monstrous as the Jotuns. Waverly felt so confused. She was hurt and angry but she knew that at least SHIELD's actions, though questionable, were done for good reasons.

Did Odin keep Loki's identity a secret for good reasons? Or did the All Father keep Loki for some selfish purpose? Waverly had never felt closer to the god of mischief. She wanted nothing more than to talk to him right now. He alone could empathize with her current situation. These feelings of anger and pain, he knew them well. Waverly didn't feel Loki was justified in his past actions but she sure as hell knew why he did it. Right now, besides talking to Loki, all she wanted to do was punch something until it broke. Preferably Fury's face.

Waverly sighed. Steve and Bruce could identify with her plight. But they were volunteers. She was essentially kidnapped and forced into all of this. She had no choice. Loki didn't either. Loki. _Oh god._

Waverly sprinted barefoot back down to the infirmary. Why hadn't she realized sooner? The Frost Giants were after Loki. Where had she left Loki? The infirmary. Where was the security breach? The infirmary.

Waverly slipped across a thin sheet of ice as she reached her hospital bed. There was a gaping hole in the wall. The bodies of a few dead Frost Giants were scattered on the floor. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Steve encased in ice, his arm outstretched and his shield just out of his fingertips. He wasn't dead; she knew he'd be alright. His altered metabolism would keep him alive in the block of ice just as it had done for 70 years.

Waverly looked quickly around. Iron Man was nowhere to be seen but she heard the familiar 'woosh' as he flew around outside. From outside she also heard the twang of Clint's bow and the buzz of Natasha's Widow's Bite. She couldn't find Fury but the Hulk was still in the infirmary, tossing Frost Giants around like rag dolls.

Where was Loki? Waverly carefully crossed to the hole in the wall and looked at the scene below her. Clint and Natasha were holding off an influx of Frost Giants from the surrounding streets. Above her, Waverly watched Iron Man blast the beasts as they appeared out of the sky.

But no sign of Loki. "Loki!" Waverly called. Her voice was drowned out by the sounds of battle. Waverly dropped to her knees and crawled out onto the lip of the hole. She frantically searched the ground below her. There was a mass of Frost Giants centralized at one point. She watched them and saw the glint of gold as it sliced through one to the giant's torsos. Loki. He was vastly outnumbered and more Frost Giants were descending upon him.

"Loki!" Waverly screamed. Behind her, she heard the grunt of the Hulk. The giant green man looked down at her with his small black eyes.

"Bruce, you have to go help him!"

"No."

Waverly scrambled to her feet and looked around Bruce's massive shoulders. Fury was standing there, gun resting idly by his side. "They are after Loki. Once they have him, they'll be gone."

"You're going to let them take him! After he offered to help you?" Waverly was needless to say, hysterical. She wasn't quite aware of all that was going on. Loki was hopelessly outnumbered; Clint, Tony, and Natasha were still fighting the beasts; Hulk just looked confused; and Steven was frozen. Fury focused on Waverly with a cold stare.

"We owe no debt to that criminal." Fury turned from the girl. "I will deal with you later," he said over his shoulder. Stepping carefully across the shattered remains of the infirmary, Fury instructed Hulk to take Steve to Tony's lab.

Waverly turned back to the hole and threw herself on the floor. She edged to the lip of the crater and located Loki once more. He was a god, he could get himself out of this.

But he couldn't. He was fighting maybe thirty Frost Giants on his own. He would slice through one only to have two more jump on him. Waverly watched as the tallest of the giants ripped Loki's spear from him. He flung it to the side like a toy and then barked something at the giants around him. Two giants each grabbed Loki by the arms. The god struggled until a third wrapped his arm around his neck. The giant giving the orders raised some kind of blue cube in the air and with a flash of light, he, his soldiers, and Loki were gone.


	18. Chapter 18

**AN: Wow, I didn't mean for this to be so long... Oh well, I hope you like it. I tried forever to come up with a cool codename for Waverly but wouldn't really think of anything so if anyone has any suggestions, let me know. I'll prolly change her name if a better idea pops up. Umm... what else... I know Loki isn't in this a lot but it's already super long so... he'll be in the next chapter! Thanks for all the reviews!**

**I own nothing.**

Chapter Eighteen:

"Loki!" Waverly's scream echoed around the now nearly deserted street. She couldn't believe it, she refused to. Tearing herself away from the hole in the wall, Waverly sprinted down to the ground floor of Avengers Tower and out into the street. Loki would be there. He had to be.

Once she was out in the street, the exhaustion of the day caught up to her. Waverly sunk to her knees in the middle of the torn up road and called the god's name once more. "Loki!" No answer. "Loki please!"

Clint and Natasha let their weapons drop to their sides. They looked around, confused at first, but glad that the Frost Giants had left just as quickly as they had come. Clint was the first to process what had happened. He saw his sister a few yards away, kneeling on the ground. Her eyes struggled to hold back tears and she was calling Loki's name. The sight made him very uncomfortable to say the least. Seeing his sister in such obvious pain that he couldn't fix tore him apart. But she was screaming for Loki, a man he despised with his entire being.

"They took him," Natasha said quietly. "That's why they left."

"Loki!" Waverly was barely holding back sobs now.

Clint sighed and shouldered his bow. He crossed the battle zone and knelt beside his sister. "Waverly, let's go inside."

"They took him!" Waverly pushed Clint aside and her eyes locked on the place she had last seen the god of mischief. "They took him!"

"He's what they were after. They're gone now and that's what we all wanted." Clint grabbed his sister by the face and forced her to look at him.

Tears began to roll down her cheeks. "They'll kill him!" She wasn't quite sure how she knew this but she knew it was true. She had an instinctual feeling that Loki was in danger.

"Waverly, calm down."

"Clint they'll kill him!"

"We should go inside." Natasha had joined the siblings.

Clint nodded and stood up, dragging Waverly along with him.

"No," Waverly protested.

Clint gripped the girl's arm tightly. "Yes. Come on."

Waverly still struggled but her fight was in vain. Iron Man landed on her other side and grabbed her free arm in his steely cold fist. The two Avengers escorted Waverly back inside.

When they had entered the tower, JARVIS told them Fury was waiting in Tony's lab. The trio, led by Natasha, trekked across the ruined lobby of the tower and down into the lower levels where Tony's lab was located. Fury was standing at a work bench, hands clasped behind his back. Bruce was there, no longer green, wearing nothing but his torn pants. Steve was sort of there as well. The frozen block that was the captain was atop the work bench behind Fury.

"The street is secure?" Fury asked when they entered the room.

Tony's face plate slid up. "If you mean all the bastards are gone, then yes. Just popped back to wherever the hell they came from."

"They took Loki with them," Natasha added.

Waverly gave a sob. Fury turned his one eyed gaze towards her. The director sighed and ran a hand across his face. "Okay," he said finally, "Tony, you and Bruce work on melting Steve. Natasha, take Agent Hill and make sure all the giants have left. Secure the street and tend to injured civilians. Clint, take Waverly to the detention level."

"The detention level?" Clint repeated.

"Did I stutter?" Fury said coldly.

"No, sir." Clint couldn't keep the sarcasm from his voice. He steered his sister from the room and began the walk to the detention level, three floors below Tony's lab.

* * *

-About an hour previously…-

Loki sat on Waverly's hospital bed. Surely the girl was chewing out Fury at this very moment. Loki knew he shouldn't be happy that Waverly had been lied to and hurt as she had been but he couldn't help but feel glad that she had been. They would understand each other. They could seek revenge together. His feelings for the girl no longer had that grain of doubt that he'd been carrying ever since they first kissed.

Letting the warmth Waverly caused spread to the tips of his fingers, Loki let himself smile. It was a true smile; one that had not been present on the god's face for quite some time. He let out a pleased sigh to see his breath crystallizing in front of his face.

_Damn. They have _impeccable_ timing._

Loki turned to watch the wall become incased in ice. With a simple blow, the giants outside smashed their way into the infirmary, orange eyes glinting and evil smiles plastered across their faces.

"How nice to see you all again," Loki said. He rose from the bed and his armor magicked itself onto his body. His spear appeared in his hand and adrenalin rushed through his veins. Loki was vaguely aware of a computerized voice calling out a security breach as he leapt into battle against his brethren.

It was unfair really, Loki against the Frost Giants. The poor beasts were vastly out matched. Loki sliced easily through the first few giants that approached him. His spear dripped with the deep red blood of his kin and a smile spread across his face. There was one thing that he and Thor had in common; they both enjoyed the rush of battle.

But soon, things began to change. Loki noticed that as soon as he killed a Frost Giant, another stood in its place. The giants seemed to be appearing out of thin air. They either gained full control of the Bifrost or they had stolen the Tesseract from Asgard and were using that to travel to Midgard. The battle spilled out onto the street below and Loki was vaguely aware of the Avengers fighting alongside him. SHIELD agents were also present. At first it seemed Loki would be able to defeat the Jotuns with the help of the Avengers and SHIELD but more and more Frost Giants appeared in the street.

Loki did not see Waverly present with the other agents. For that he was glad. She was in no condition to fight. As he spun to slice through the body of a Frost Giant that had attempted to grab him around the neck, he heard Livarre's snarl in his ear.

"You will come with us, brother, or we will destroy every last inch of the girl's planet."

Loki's green eyes widened. Livarre knew of the girl. "You would destroy this realm anyway," Loki said. He turned to face his brother.

"And you would not?"

"I wish to rule the humans, not eradicate them." Loki answered. He jabbed his spear at his brother's chest but the giant blocked with a spear of ice.

"Yet you would kill your own people."

"You are not my people." Loki said. "I belong to no race. I am above all of you."

Livarre's lips twisted in a snarl. "Are you really?"

Loki felt a strong arm wrap around his neck. He struggled against the hold as his brother tore his spear from his hand. Loki cursed himself. He had let his brother distract him by bringing up the girl. Shameful.

"All right," Loki chocked out. "You have me. Leave this realm."

Livarre narrowed his orange eyes. "We shall leave, brother. Only so that you may face justice. But we will return. And when we do, I promise you I will kill the girl. Slowly. Painfully. I will make her cry and scream and beg for death."

Loki lashed out angrily only to have his arms pinned to his sides by two other Frost Giants. He heard his brother shout out a command and raise the Tesseract above his head. Loki felt the jolt of inter-dimensional travel as he returned to Jotunheim with his brethren.

* * *

Clint had just steered Waverly out of Tony's lab when a monstrous crash of thunder stopped him in his tracks. Lightning flashed and suddenly, Thor stood before the Bartons. The god of thunder looked past Clint and Waverly and locked eyes on Fury.

"Asgard has fallen." He said in a somber voice.

Waverly tore herself from Clint's grip. "Thor! Thor, they took Loki!"

Thor looked down upon the girl with a mix of emotions on his face. He grabbed her by the shoulders and lifted her out of his way. "Director Fury, I request the aide of the Avengers to help me regain my realm from the grip of the Jotuns."

"Slow your roll," Fury responded. "The Frost Giants have taken Loki and let us be. I am not about to send my team back into battle."

Thor raised an eyebrow. His voice lost its usual commanding menace. "They have taken my brother?"

Waverly scrambled back into Tony's lab. "Yes Thor! They took him. Please, we have to help him."

Thor did not look at the girl when he said, "Like you helped my father?"

Waverly let out a cry and dropped to her knees. She held her face in her hands and her body shook with sobs.

Fury sighed with frustration and took command of the conversation once more. "I'm sorry Thor, but I can't send my team out right now. We have civilians to tend to and a headquarters to repair."

"You refuse my request? I, who have watched over this realm and come to the aide of your people when you needed it most?" Thor took several steps towards Fury. The god towered over the director and Fury couldn't help but suppress a shiver under Thor's angry gaze.

"Point break's got a point," Tony said, looking up from the block of ice that was Steve.

Bruce rolled his eyes. "You will do anything to contradict Fury, won't you?"

Tony flashed his arrogant smile. "Yes. But he does have a point."

Fury turned to face Tony. He narrowed his eye. With a tone that left no room for argument, he said, "No one is to go after the Frost Giants. That is an order."

Thor gave a guttural growl that sounded almost primal and stalked from the room. Bruce went back to defrosting Steve and Tony shook his head. Waverly gave another sob.

"Are you sure you're making the right decision, director?" Clint asked. He walked over to his sister and lifted her back to her feet. He turned once again to take her to the detention level but as he left, he threw Fury a cold stare. "You're decisions haven't always been the wisest in the past. What if the giants come back?"

* * *

Waverly sat on the metal cot in her cell on the detention level. She was the floor's only occupant; these cells normally serving as temporary containment centers until criminals could be moved to more heavily guarded prisons. She hung her head, staring at her bare feet. She was embarrassed with herself really. Crying and carrying on over Loki; she was acting like a child. But, she loved him and she knew, somehow, that they would kill him. Waverly's heart pounded against her chest. It was like she could hear Loki's voice inside her head saying that he was in danger. Waverly's breath came in short gasps and the knot in her stomach twisted uncomfortably. She needed to get out of this cage. She had to do something. She wasn't going to sit there and let Loki get killed.

Waverly knew she couldn't do it alone. For one thing, she had no way to even get to Jotunheim. Secondly, she couldn't take on a whole army of Frost Giants by herself, even if she did have some crazy kind of ice powers. She was sure Thor would agree to help save his brother, but that look he had given her, the venom in his voice. _What did you expect? You killed his father._

The sound of a heavy door swinging open jostled Waverly from her thoughts. She listened as footsteps approached her cell door and she looked up to see the stocky silhouette of her brother through the small window of her cell door. He unlocked the door with the swipe of a highly encrypted access card and let himself into the cell.

"We need to talk," he said. His tone was unreadable. He shut the door behind him, leaned against it, and crossed his arms. "You have a lot to answer for."

Waverly took a breath and composed herself. She knew this was coming. Now was the time to pull herself together and explain herself to Clint. She looked her brother in the eyes, something she hadn't been able to do until just recently.

"I hated him. I despised him. But something changed, Clint. Do you remember how hurt I was when you told me I wasn't really your sister? That I had no parents? That no one knew who I was."

Clint nodded.

"That's how Loki felt. I'm not saying what he did was right, I'm just saying he's been hurt and he didn't have someone to help him through it like I did." Waverly paused. "He kissed me, Clint. And it… it caused something inside me. I really believe that I'm in love with him. Ever since he kissed me, he hasn't hurt me or put me under his control or anything. I tried to leave him but he wouldn't let me. He said he wanted to protect me."

Clint heaved a sigh and uncrossed his arms. He slid down the door so that he was seated on the floor. He remained silent but the look on his face was questioning.

"Look at it this way," Waverly said. She stood up, crossed the small cell and sat cross-legged in front of her brother. "He's Natasha and I'm you."

"I get that," Clint said. "But why did you kill Odin? All your years here, you were never deployed as a field agent because even in simulations, you couldn't kill people."

Waverly took a breath and forced herself to not cry. Tears still built up in her brown eyes but she kept her gaze locked firmly on her brother. "I love him."

Clint ran a hand over his face. "I don't like it. I reeeeally don't like it. But I'm in no position to judge you."

Waverly's face erupted into a small smile despite all the negative things still going on. She flung herself at her brother and hugged him around the neck. "Thank you."

Clint gave a dry laugh. "Welcome. But it doesn't mean you're off the hook."

Waverly pried herself from her brother. "I know," she said quietly.

"Fury's made a decision," Clint said. "I guess he convinced Thor to come back and talk. Here's where you stand. You killed Odin so you need to face justice on Asgard. Given the circumstances of your crime, Thor believes he can get you off if you help him get rid of the Frost Giants."

Nodding, Waverly said, "That's a lot kinder than I deserve."

Clint chuckled. "Thor is not particularly angry that you killed Odin. He said what you did was necessary to save Loki. He said he would have done the same. Thor still has hope that Loki can repent and return to his true self. Whatever the hell that means."

"Okay, so what's Fury's decision?"

"Well, he's letting you decide whether or not you'll help Thor. But you still need to answer to SHIELD. Fury said, given everything that's happened, he'll drop any charges the agency has against you if you'll allow him to develop your powers so that you can join the Avengers. If you don't," Clint said slowly, "He'll keep you locked up."

"No," Waverly said almost instantly. "I'm not going to do what Fury wants. I'm not his little toy."

"Waverly," Clint said, almost pleadingly. "Please, I don't want you to be locked up like some criminal."

"I'll help Thor but I will not play Fury's little game."

Clint sighed. "Okay. But Fury's coming down to talk to you. Thought I'd warn you." Clint ruffled Waverly's hair like he did when she was a kid and stood up. "Think about it, though." He smiled at his sister and then excused himself from her cell.

Waverly sighed with frustration and climbed back on her cot. Fury was the last person she wanted to see right now. She didn't have long to wait. As soon as her brother's footsteps faded, she heard the heavy footfall of Fury's boots. The SHIELD director was soon letting himself into her cell. Waverly glared at him with narrowed eyes.

"Waverly Barton," Fury said in his gravelly tone. "You have a lot of explaining to do."

"Little clichéd there, boss," Waverly spat. "But I could say the same to you."

"Let's cut to the chase here," Fury crossed his arms and glared across the dimly light room to the girl. "You have done some pretty bad shit on Asgard. Thor has decided that if you so wish, you can help him rid Asgard of the Jotun occupation and he'll let you off the hook for killing Odin. How he can manage to do that, I do not know."

"People on Asgard are a lot smarter than you, Fury."

"I will ignore that seeing as you've had a… stressful day."

"Like you care."

Fury gritted his teeth and continued. "But you still have me to answer to." He paused while Waverly nodded. "Here is my offer. Since you can obviously use your powers, you allow SHEILD to train you, develop your skills, and then you serve for the Avengers and protect this planet, at the risk of your own life, to make up for betraying us. You will live here, under surveillance, and you answer directly to me at a moment's notice."

Waverly pretended to think about it. "No." She finally said.

Fury expected this. "Then you will remain in prison for the rest of your life. And since your little boyfriend is gone, you won't be able to break out."

Now Waverly was gritting her teeth. She bit back all her angry and sarcastic comments and instead stood and took a few steps towards the director. She squared her shoulders and looked right into his eye. It was odd really, how empowered she suddenly felt. She was locked up in one of Fury's cages with no way out but ever since she had controlled that ice, something had awakened inside of her. She felt stronger, braver, more confident. She took a breath and said, "How 'bout this, Fury? I let your little lap dogs train me up the way I want to be trained. I will use my powers the way I want to but I will allow you to do whatever research you want on me." Fury opened his mouth but Waverly continued, more loudly. "On the condition that we start now and we go straight on until I say I've had enough. And then, Thor and I take the Avengers to Jotunheim and we rescue Loki. Then I'll help Thor on Asgard and I'll come back and do whatever you want."

"You are in no position to be the one making offers, Waverly," Fury said coldly.

Waverly narrowed her eyes. "Fine, then lock me up."

"I will give you the next twenty-four hours to make a decision. Choose wisely." With that, Fury was gone in a swish of his black trench coat.

Waverly let out an angry growl and sat back down on the cold, uncomfortable cot. Loki didn't have much time; she could feel it. It wouldn't take long for her to learn how to use her powers; she could feel that too. Now that her powers had been awakened, they felt natural, like a part of her that had always been there. She felt it buzzing in her veins. She was cold but it felt good. Was this what Loki felt like when he had his spear? If it was, Waverly knew why he always got that mad smile when he used the thing. Magic, powers, whatever the hell she had, it felt good.

What was it that Tony had said? SHEILD had come close to figuring out her powers with the water thing. What water thing? Waverly closed her eyes and leaned against the concrete wall. Slowly, it was coming back to her. They had chained her to some kind of chair suspended above a deep pool of water. She couldn't remember what they had told her, but some scientists in white coats were giving her orders. Waverly's pulse quickened as she remember the fear that had gripped her. The chair was lowered into the water, but they didn't bring her back up.

Waverly remembered how she had almost passed out; almost drowned. The stress of the situation though, it was starting to awaken her instinctual fight or flight response. With the added alteration of her genes, this response included triggering her powers. Right before the memory went black, Waverly remembered the water getting cold. Flecks of ice appeared in the pool and Waverly's toes slowly became covered in frost.

_I was trying to freeze myself. If I was frozen, I wouldn't have drowned. Like Steve._

Waverly opened her eyes and looked around her cell. She could create ice, she somehow knew that. But how exactly? She inhaled slowly and breathed out like she had seen the Frost Giants do. The air became frigid but no ice. Waverly crossed to the small sink in the corner of her cell. She turned on the tap and touched the tip of her finger to the stream of water. Nothing. Waverly drew her hand away and tried again. This time, she envisioned the water becoming ice at her touch. She let out a gasp when it did.

Waverly pried the shaft of ice from the faucet and took it over to her cot. Surely some agent was watching her on the security camera, but she didn't care. She held the bar of ice in her outstretched palm and concentrated on it. The ice hovered a few inches above her hand. Next, she imagined it becoming pointed, like a knife. The end of the bar melted back into water but instantly reformed into a point. Waverly smiled. With a flick of her wrist, she shot her ice-knife at the opposite wall. It stuck with a satisfying 'thunk' in the wall.

"Better watch that."

Waverly jumped and her eyes flicked to the barred window in her door. Clint was back, smiling.

"Don't want Fury to send someone down here and shut off your water."

Waverly rolled her eyes. "I don't care what Fury does to me." A weight fell on Waverly's shoulders and she crossed to the door, craving her brother's comfort. "He's in trouble," she whispered. She clung to the bars of the window to keep herself from sinking to her knees. "They'll kill him. Thor thinks they want him to lead some army but they don't. I can feel it Clint. They're going to kill him."

Clint didn't respond but he held his sister's hand through the bars.

Taking a shuddered breath, Waverly continued. "If they kill him, I don't care what Fury does to me. Let him lock me up, Clint. I did what I did for Loki, so if he's gone, just lock me up."

The words pained Clint but he knew his sister was being completely honest with him. _She really loves that son of a bitch._ Clint knew his sister better than anyone, though. She was not one to roll over and play dead. She had something up her sleeve.

"What are you really thinking?" He whispered.

Waverly's lips titled up, ever so slightly, in a mischievous grin. "Well, here's what I got. I was thinking, when Fury comes to get my answer, I tell him I'll train and do whatever he wants. But, we go with Thor and sneak off to Jotunheim and rescue Loki. Then I'll come back and face whatever Fury wants to throw at me."

Clint heaved a sigh. "I don't know, Wave."

"Please." Waverly squeezed her brother's hand. "Clint, I love him." The siblings locked gazes. Waverly was near tears again. "Please," she whispered. "For me."

Clint still wasn't sure. "Waverly… the guy killed 80 people in two days."

"Thor thinks he can change," Waverly countered. "Come on, it won't be the first time you did something against Fury's orders."

"Okay," Clint said. "I'm doing this for you. I can't promise the others will come, but I will."

Waverly smiled like she hadn't for days. "God, thank you Clint!"

Clint nodded. "I'll go get Fury. Tell him you've come to a decision."

Waverly grinned evilly. "If Loki's taught me one thing, it's how to lie. Get Fury down here and he'll think I'll be his perfect little lap dog."

* * *

Loki awoke to find himself shackled and muzzled in a stone cell, like some dog. The god huffed and his breath crystallized in front of his face, through the slits in his strange mouth restraint. He had only ever been knocked unconscious once before; when that vile Hulk had smashed him into the floor of Stark's penthouse. Loki never hated the Frost Giants more than he did at that moment.

Struggling to a sitting position, the infernal chains making it rather difficult, Loki saw that on the other side of the bars of his cage, was his despicable brother.

"Good morning, brother," Livarre said coolly. His orange gaze was narrowed and he had a nasty grin that showed off his pointed teeth.

Loki could not respond so he narrowed his eyes at the giant.

"You are wondering why we haven't killed you yet." Livarre began to pace arrogantly in front of Loki's cell. "Well, a thought struck me upon our return home. You call your people a pathetic race. You hate us and want us dead. Well, who is really the pathetic one here? You've failed to rule Asgard and Midgard when you had amazing opportunities to do so. You allowed a team of mutated rejects take you down. And now, you've fallen in love with a pathetic human girl." Livarre stopped and looked at Loki. The god of mischief would not pleasure the Jotun with a response to his words. So, Livarre continued. "You remember how I promised to kill her, brother?" Loki remained motionless, unblinking. He simply stared at Livarre with an intense hatred. Livarre chuckled in his guttural Frost Giant voice. The sound sent a shiver down Loki's spine. "Well, I have decided. Before I kill you, I'm going to make you watch as I kill her."

Loki couldn't stop his eyebrows from rising.

Livarre looked pleased with this reaction. "Yes. The little human ice freak. I will personally kill her. And you will watch. She will know you are there and that you can't do a thing to help her pathetic little soul. Once she is dead, I will leave you with the body. Let you mourn. I won't kill you right away; that'd be too kind. I'll watch you weep for her and then, only then will I kill you."

Loki narrowed his eyes so that they were merely green slits. He wanted nothing more than to be free from these bonds so he could strangle the foul beast that shared his blood. This thought surprised Loki. Hadn't he wanted to do nearly the same exact thing to Natasha? Yes, he did. But that seemed like such a long time ago now. The hate that fueled his blood thirst was no longer the dominating emotion in his heart. Waverly had seen to that.

* * *

Waverly sat on her cot, looking at Fury with indifference.

"Well?" The SHIELD director asked.

"I'll let you hone my powers." Waverly's tone was flat and betrayed nothing. "I'll do what you say. I'll join your team. I'll live under your constant watch and I will do nothing wrong."

"Good," Fury said. "Glad you see things my way." He walked back to Waverly's door and opened it. He stepped back to allow the girl to leave. "But remember, the first sign of insubordination, you'll be back here before you know it."

Waverly nodded and padded barefoot out of her cell. With Fury behind her, she followed some agent in a lab coat to a room she only recently had memories of. This was the room that had held the pool of water that she had nearly drowned in. Waverly suppressed a nervous shiver and followed the agent to a bench on the opposite wall. A black jumpsuit was spread across the bench top. The suit had blue accents on the sleeves and pant legs and around the neck. Waverly's usual pair of black combat boots was present, as well as deep blue, fingerless gloves.

"This will be your uniform," the agent said.

Waverly nodded and took the clothes in her hand. She ducked behind a small screen and changed while the agent continued talking to her.

"Your codename has yet to be determined. Do you have any input?"

Waverly smiled. "Ice Hawk."

The agent nodded and made a note on the clipboard he was holding. "Right then. Are you dressed?"

"Mm hmm."

"Great. We'll start your training by placing you in different stress…" The agent fell silent, seeing Waverly's hand held up. "Um… yes?"

"How about I show you what I already know how to do, and we go from there?"

The agent nodded. Waverly walked to the center of the room. At various computer screens and work benches around the room, agents began to pay attention to her and take note. Someone walked up and placed electrodes on various parts of her body, no doubt to record her vitals while she used her powers.

Waverly took a breath and let it out slowly. She may not be able to freeze things like the Frost Giants, but she was pleased to see small ice crystals floating in the air before her. Waverly aimed at a target on the other side of the room. It was directly across from a glass box with tinted windows. Fury was behind that glass; watching her. Waverly winked at the box and then sent a blast of water from her palm. It felt natural, like she should have been able to do this her whole life. The water sped through the air and as the stream neared the target, Waverly closed her hand into a fist and the water turned to a spear of ice in an instant. The spear sliced through the target right in the center of the bull's eye. Waverly turned quickly and aimed at another target. Within seconds, all the targets in the room were pierced with a shaft of ice from Waverly's palm.

It felt so right, using her powers. She felt like she had never before. Waverly liked it. The adrenalin pumping through her veins, the chill of her power, the rush of battle; it was a good feeling. Waverly experimented with her martial arts skills. She spun around the room, punching and kicking dummies, leaving patches of ice where her blows made contact. She even got a little crazy and tried a backflip in the air using blasts of water from her feet to propel her through the air.

For her grand finale, Waverly narrowed her eyes and turned so that her back was to the agent with the clip board. As if she was holding a handful of ninja stars, she spun around and made a throwing motion with her hand. Little darts of ice flew from her finger tips and pinned the agent to the wall by his lab coat. The agent blinked and paled.

"Director," he said into his communicator, "I think she's ready."

Fury's voice came over an intercom, booming and full of static. "I see. All right, Ice Hawk. Hawkeye will escort you out into the field with the others. He'll fill you in on your first assignment on the way."

Clint came in through the doors Waverly had been escorted through. He was smiling. "That was so bad ass," he said, clapping his sister on the shoulder. Then, with an arch of an eyebrow, "Ice Hawk, huh?"

Waverly shrugged. "Has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?"

Clint laughed. He guided Waverly from the room. Once they were several floors above the training center, he said, in a low voice. "So, your plan."

"Yeah?"

"Thor's on board on the condition that once we have Loki, all of us go to Asgard."

Waverly nodded. "And the others?"

"The second Tony found out about your plan, he was all for it. You know him. He said he'd have done something like that himself if you hadn't thought it up."

Waverly smiled. "Of course. But, he hates Loki."

Clint let out a sigh. "You and Thor are the only ones that don't. But none of us can deny that he's got skills. We need his help and this could be a step towards eliminating him as a threat and adding him as an ally. That is, if he's really changed like Thor thinks he has."

"He has." Waverly's voice was low, but confident.

Clint shrugged. "We'll see I guess. Nat and Bruce were a little hesitant. Steve is on board though. We're all set to go. Once we meet up with the others, Thor's got some voodoo magic that'll get us to Jotunheim. But… there has been a change."

"A change?"

"It was Bruce's idea and we all think it's good."

"What, Clint?" Waverly said, suddenly nervous.

"Well, with your new found powers, Bruce thinks it'll be easy for you to sneak into Jotunheim and find Loki, disguised as a Frost Giant."

* * *

Out on the ravaged street, Clint and Waverly met up with the other Avengers. Natasha dismissed Agent Hill and began instructing Waverly as if they were about to obey Fury's orders.

"The director wants us to scout the area, make sure all the giants are gone."

Waverly nodded. "Well, let's go."

Thor looked to the sky. "Hemidall, bring us back!" He thundered.

**AN: I don't usually have these at the end but... I just wanted to make sure no one was confused. Yes, Hemidall was frozen by Frost Giants, yes the Frost Giants have taken over Asgard. But Thor and Hemidall and a few others are fighting to retake Asgard and I'll explain all that in the next few chapters.**


	19. Chapter 19

**AN: Okay. A lot shorter than the last one. Thanks again to all the reviewers, favoriters, ect. Waverly's cover name on Jotunheim is a real Frost Giant name and the character Zeno is also based off of a real Frost Giant, both from Marvel comics. I really don't have much else to say. I hope you like!**

**I own nothing.**

Chapter Nineteen:

Waverly was now used to the stomach churning jolt that inter-dimensional travel caused. So, when she arrived on Jotunheim with Thor and the Avengers, she was one of the few not hunched over, fighting nausea. Waverly's eyes located Thor.

"Hemidall? Didn't the Frost Giants freeze him?" She asked.

Thor smiled knowingly. "This has not been the first time Hemidall has faced the Frost Giants. He is strong and not so easily beaten."

"Don't the giants have control of the Bifrost?"

A mischievous smile played about Thor's lips. No doubt a mannerism he picked up from Loki. "My brother once told me there is more than one way in and out of the realms."

Waverly nodded. "Okay, so what now?"

"Now, we get out of the open." Thor took off over the lip of a small crevice. Waverly followed, allowing herself to take in her surroundings. Jotunheim was something like she had never seen before. It was beautiful, but in a frightening sort of way. Waverly clamored over black stone and ice blocks, following Thor. She heard her brother and the others struggling along behind her, muttering about the side effects of teleportation.

Jotunheim was eerily quiet and a cold mist hovered above the ground. Despite how foreboding Jotunheim looked at first glance, Waverly couldn't help but feel oddly comfortable here. She felt more alive than she had in days. Her heart thumped against her rib cage and she could practically feel the adrenalin in her veins. She almost seemed to be vibrating as well. _My powers,_ she figured. It felt awesome.

Once Thor was sure they were all hidden from view, he crouched down and beckoned Natasha over. The Black Widow obliged and the two fumbled with something from her pocket.

"What's that?" Waverly whispered.

"Your cover," Clint answered. "Here's the plan. We disguise you as a Frost Giant and you go into the castle."

Thor looked up. "Fortress," he corrected. He nodded towards their left. Just visible over the lip of their little hiding spot was a towering stone fortress. Waverly stifled a shiver that had nothing to do with the cold. The fortress was dark and loomed over everything else around it.

"Got it," she said, eyes still on the black rock formation.

"You locate Loki. Your mission is reconnaissance only," Steve put in. "You are not to take on the Frost Giants alone. Report back here, to us, and we will plan out next move."

Waverly nodded. "So what's my disguise?"

Natasha waved the girl over and made her sit on the ground before her. "This was all put together pretty last minute, but it should suffice. Take your jumpsuit off." Waverly stripped her uniform off and sat in a simple black unitard that barely covered her more private areas. The Black Widow opened a canister of some type of spray. Covering Waverly's face with one hand, she sprayed the contents of the canister over Waverly's exposed skin. When she was finished, Waverly held up her arms and surveyed them. Her skin was the icy blue that Loki's had been that day he showed her his true form.

"Now what?"

Natasha pulled another small container from her pocket. She unscrewed it and handed it to Waverly. "Colored contacts. They aren't perfect so your vision might be a little off at first."

Waverly dipped her finger into the solution and pulled out the first contact. Holding her eye open with her free hand, she slid the lens in her eye. Then the other. She blinked a few times while her eyes adjusted to change.

"Now you have orange eyes," Natasha said with a smirk.

"What about my clothes?" Waverly asked.

"What you are wearing will be adequate," Thor stated. "Pull your hair back, though. Female giants, if they choose to grow their hair out, always have it pulled back."

"Gotcha." Waverly slicked her hair back in a tight pony tail. "All set then?"

Thor nodded. "Just be casual. I have only ever been to Jotunheim once before. It is a quiet place. Do not attract attention to yourself. Hemidall sees all. He has seen Loki in a cell deep beneath the fortress. There should be a passage to the lower levels to the right of the main opening." Thor pointed to the Frost Giant's strong hold and roughly indicated where Waverly should go.

"What if someone approaches me?" Waverly asked.

"Frost Giants are a primitive culture," Thor continued. "Women are not to speak unless spoken to. If anyone says anything to you, you nod and keep your gaze low. Should they ask you a question, answer simply and allow them to continue on."

"Your cover is Knorda," Clint added. "I guess in Norse mythology, she was some Frost Giant queen that had traveled to Earth."

"Is that a common name, then?" Waverly asked. She really didn't think she could convince anyone she was a queen.

Thor nodded. "Trust your instincts." He looked Waverly in the eye. "They haven't failed you before."

Waverly blinked. Was this Thor's way of saying he forgave her for killing Odin? She swallowed and nodded. "I will."

"Good luck, Ice Hawk," Thor said, placing a hand on Waverly's shoulder.

Waverly nodded once more and then climbed out of the crater. "If I'm not back in an hour, well, come find me." She took a deep breath and steadied her nerves. Slinking behind rocks and pillars of ice, Waverly crept closer to the fortress before she walked freely, out in the open.

* * *

Loki may have had his hands restrained and his mouth bound, but that did not mean he was powerless. How stupid the Jotuns were. Sure, he couldn't use his more complicated and dangerous spells, but he still retained his magic. Waverly was far from him; in another realm, but he could still cast thoughts from his mind to hers. He couldn't control her from this distance but he could manipulate her subconscious. He planted visions of the Frost Giants in her mind and gave her clues to their motives. He hoped she could decipher the overwhelming feeling of doom he planted in her mind.

The situation was bleak. Asgard had been taken so, as much as it pained Loki to hope for his brother's help, he was certain it wouldn't come. The Avengers would not come to his aide, despite his feelings for Waverly. He was certain of that too. And, if Waverly attempted to rescue him on her own, well, Loki didn't even want to think about that. She should stay on Midgard where her brother could protect her.

But could she be protected? In all the time he knew of the Frost Giants, their army had never been stronger than it currently was. Loki had grown up hearing tales of the past wars between Asgard and Jotunheim. The giants were a force to be reckoned with but the Asgardians had always managed to win against them. Livarre's brutality and strength was something to be admired. He built up his savage brethren into a force that was the most threatening army the Jotuns have ever had.

Loki was surprised that he had come to terms with his defeat. He didn't care, one way or the other, if Livarre killed him or let him live. Loki just wanted Waverly to be kept alive; to be allowed to live.

A sigh escaped Loki's lips and his breath fogged his vision. He didn't see the giant creeping towards his cell.

* * *

It was easy enough entering the fortress. Frost Giants were scattered here and there, milling about their everyday business. They spoke in hushed tones but still retained the eerie guttural sound Waverly had come to associate with the Jotuns. No one looked at her twice as she made her way inside. There was some sort of ice statue immediately inside the fortress. Waverly paused, pretending to look at it, while she attempted to locate the passage Thor mentioned. She saw it off to her right, in a shadowy corner. Two huge giants had just descended into it, gripping menacing looking spears.

Waverly took a quick glance around her. No one paid her any attention. She made for the passage, quickly and quietly, keeping her eyes on the ground before her. She was almost in the safety of the passage's shadows when a voice stopped her.

"You there, what are you doing?"

A question. Waverly stopped, straightened up, but kept her eyes low. She saw the large, blue feet of a giant step close to her. She chanced a quick glance up. From the giant's appearance, she assumed this one was some sort of soldier or guard. "I am going to the dungeons."

Waverly felt the guard's cold stare as he looked her up and down. "What is your purpose?"

Waverly took a slow breath to calm herself. "To visit my brother." Keep it simple.

"Zeno?"

Waverly severely hoped that was one of the prisoner's names. She nodded.

The guard scoffed. "The blind idiot. Very well. You may go." The guard stepped aside.

Waverly continued on, forcing herself to go slowly. Whoever this Zeno was, he must have a sister that came to visit him. Thank god. Waverly padded quickly down the steps, her bare feet moving swiftly over the ice that seemed to cover everything here. The passage was dark, only lit by a few blue flames here and there. Her orange contacts dimmed everything further, so Waverly gave everything a second glance.

She met no other obstacles on her way down to the dungeons. At the bottom of the passage, there was a heavy door guarded by two monstrous giants. Waverly kept her eyes low. The guards looked her over briefly before allowing her to pass. As she walked by them, she heard one whisper, "Pathetic, how the wretch visits her brother. The sooner he is put to death, the better. She should know her place is in the home."

Waverly suppressed the urge to turn around and punch the giant in his face. What sexist bastards the Frost Giants were. Waverly briefly wondered what this Zeno character did to grant him a death sentence in such a barbaric culture, but the thought didn't occupy her mind for long. She was mostly just thankful she resembled the giant's sister so closely.

As Waverly walked down the long hall that was the dungeon, she heard the moans of the imprisoned. She avoided looking into the cells on either side of her. Loki would be at the end of the hall, she just knew it.

Waverly reached the end of the hall and stopped. Her heart thudded so loudly, the prisoners must be able to hear it. She took a nervous breath and looked in the cell to her left. It was empty. She turned to face the cell on her right. Hunched against the back wall, hands in chains and mouth obscured by some kind of weird device, was the god of mischief.

"Loki," Waverly whispered. She crossed to the bars of his cell and thrust her thin arm inside. "Loki!"

The god looked up. His eyes fell on the girl but at first he did not recognize her. His gaze narrowed as he took in the small giant crouched before him. Her hand was outstretched to him.

_What on all of Jotunheim is going on?_

"Loki," the girl hissed. "It's me."

Loki's eyes widened. He must be hallucinating. Someone must have conjured up some illusion to trick him. There was no way in all of the nine realms that Waverly was kneeling on the other side of his cell, painted to look like a Jotun.

"You moron," the girl continued. "Don't look so surprised. I saved your ass once, what makes you think I wouldn't do it again?"

By the gods it was her. Loki moved as far as the chains would allow him. The tips of Waverly's fingers just brushed against his chest. Loki had so many questions but thanks to his muzzle, he could not speak.

"We're going to get you out of here. Then we have to go to Asgard. You have to help us or they'll just lock you back up."

We? Us? Was Waverly telling him the Avengers were here as well? Had all the nine realms gone mad?

Footsteps interrupted Loki's reunion with Waverly. The girl withdrew her hand and hissed in a low voice, "Which one is Zeno?"

Loki nodded to his left and held up three fingers. Waverly understood. She sprinted three cells from Loki's and crouched at the bars just in time. The leader of the Frost Giants descended into the dungeons with two guards flanking him. Waverly kept her eyes low but her heart was racing. As they approached, she knew she would have to make it look like she was Zeno's sister and that she was visiting him. Suddenly, this plan seemed very seat-of-the-pants and poorly constructed.

As the guards came within a few feet of her, she began speaking to Zeno in a low voice. "Brother, I mourn for your imprisonment."

The blind giant that was Zeno stirred in his cell. "Who are you," he asked in a suspicious voice. He narrowed his unseeing eyes, his sightless gaze locked on Waverly.

"It is I," Waverly said, struggling to keep her voice calm. "Your sister."

"You are no sister of mine," Zeno replied. He took a few steps towards Waverly. "Guards, you have allowed a human to trespass in our realm?"

Waverly fought with every ounce of her being to keep her breathing steady and her eyes low. The guards stopped and turned to face Zeno. "Be silent, prisoner," the leader commanded. "You're blind. You know nothing of what you speak."

Zeno let out a cold laugh. "I am blind. Not stupid. This girl is no more my sister than you are, Livarre."

The leader, Livarre, shifted his gaze from Zeno to Waverly. If her heart pounded any louder, it would give her away. Livarre took a step towards Waverly. He put a slender finger under her chin and forced her to a standing position. Still, she kept her eyes low.

"What is your name?" He asked.

Waverly swallowed the anxiety that had risen in her chest. Her voice was confident when she spoke. "Knorda."

Zeno let out another laugh. "I have no sister named Knorda."

Livarre grabbed Waverly's face, lifted her up, and forced her to look at him. "If you are not Zeno's sister, then who are you?" The giant narrowed his orange eyes.

Waverly had a split second to think. Should she lie and continue on pretending she was a Frost Giant? No, her cover was pretty much blown. If Zeno knew she was human, it wouldn't take this Livarre character long to reach the same conclusion. Waverly made up her mind. She reached up and grabbed Livarre's arm with both her hands.

"Me? I'm Ice Hawk. You have something I want." She swung her legs up and kicked Livarre in the stomach. He fell back, releasing her. Waverly dropped to the ground and sprinted back to Loki's cell. She could hear the pounding footsteps of the two guards behind her. With a flourish of her hand, Waverly coated the locking mechanism of Loki's cell with ice. The frozen metal easily shattered after she struck it with a spinning kick.

Loki had been listening to the whole exchange and was ready when Waverly reached him. He cast a dozen Waverly illusions about the cell and they all descended upon the two guards. Waverly freed Loki from his chains and ripped the muzzle from his mouth.

"You are an idiot," Loki said, though he smiled. "Coming here."

Waverly shrugged. "You're an idiot for getting captured."

"We need to get out of here."

Waverly nodded. She followed Loki as they slipped past the guards who were still battling the Waverly illusions. Back in the hall, Livarre had recovered. He was standing, arms crossed and eyes livid.

"Well, well, well," he growled. "The little human came to save her lover, did she? Well, makes my job easier. I will kill you here, now, with my bare hands."

"Not today, brother," Loki said. He slashed his arm through the air and a wave of unseen energy pulsed through the dungeons. Livarre was thrown backward and the remaining cell doors were ripped from their hinges. Prisoners flowed out into the hall, seizing their escape. Loki and Waverly took advantage of the chaos to teleport outside of the Frost Giant fortress.

* * *

"Well?" Clint asked. He was sitting cross-legged in the little crater that served as their hideout. He had been acting as the lookout but Natasha had taken the job from him after he dropped the binoculars for the third time. It wasn't like Clint to get nervous during a mission but this one revolved around his sister.

"Nothing yet," Natasha said.

"Steve, what time is it?" Clint couldn't keep the nerves from his voice.

Steve consulted the watch under the sleeve of his Captain America suit. "She has ten more minutes. Then we go in."

"She's got him!" Natasha said. The group jolted at her exclamation and turned to look at the Frost Giant Fortress. An aura of magic hovered around Loki and Waverly. A commotion was going on just inside the fortress and Loki and Waverly had taken off at a run.

"Why are they running?" Clint asked.

"Don't be stupid, Robin Hood," Tony said. The face plate of his suit slid down. "Her cover's been blown. Get ready."

* * *

The second Waverly's feet his solid ground once more, she took off at a sprint, her hand clasped around Loki's wrist. Her bare feet glided swiftly over the ice. Loki followed, his god like agility serving him well over the ice.

"Where are we going?" Loki called.

"Asgard, hopefully," Waverly answered. The girl chanced a glace over her shoulder. Guards were arriving at the entrance to the fortress, searching for the human and the escaped prisoner. Waverly and Loki had put a good distance between themselves and the giants, but Waverly wasn't about to take any chances. "Go that way!" She pointed towards the place she knew her brother and the others were.

"What are you doing?"

"Just go!" Waverly pushed Loki forward, then turned back towards the fortress. She let out a slow breath and then clenched her fists. Thrusting both her arms over her head, a sheet of ice rose from the ground and created a barrier in front of the giants' fortress. That would hold them off for a while, but not long.

Waverly turned back around and began sprinting back towards the crater. Loki was a few yards ahead of her. She saw the profiles of Natasha, Tony, and Thor as they stood. She could just make out the shape of her brother, sprawled out on the ground with his bow armed, covering their backs. Loki reached the Avengers first.

"Brother!' Thor exclaimed. He pulled Loki into a hug. The god of mischief allowed the gesture, but displeasure spread across his face. "Have your brethren harmed you?"

Loki rolled his eyes. "Of course not, Thor. What are you doing here?"

"There is time for that later."

Waverly finally reached the group. Both Clint and Loki descended upon her.

"Are you all right?" Loki asked at the same time Clint questioned, "What happened?"

Waverly shook them both away, hands resting on her knees. She was panting and small ice crystals formed around her face. "Let's just go."

Thor nodded. The group gathered tightly together and Thor summoned Hemidall once more. Just as her felt left the ground, Waverly felt Loki put a protective arm around her shoulders.


	20. Chapter 20

**AN: Soooo... I don't really like this chapter but I need a filler between battle scenes... it's a little short but I had trouble getting this much out of it so I hope it's all right. Thanks again to everyone who follows this story! Reviews and favorites make me want to update faster =] Umm... I guess that's it. Enjoy!**

**I own nothing.**

Chapter Twenty:

The group landed on Asgard more gracefully than they had on Jotunheim. Hemidall had transported them to a small peasant home on the outskirts of the realm. The place was shabby and dirty but the last place the Jotun soldiers would look for them. Crammed in the small building were several other people Waverly recognized. Hemidall was there, as well as the Warriors Three and Sif. The second the occupants of the building saw Loki and Waverly, they jumped up. Sif actually grabbed Waverly by the forearm.

"Thor," she said in her aggressive but beautiful voice, "When you said you were fetching help, we didn't think you meant criminals and murderers."

Thor stepped forward and pried Sif off of Waverly. "I did fetch help."

Hogun came forward. "Your brother and the girl who killed your father? This is your idea of help?"

Tony's face plate slid up and he joined in the confrontation. "Chill out Leif Erickson. We can leave right now and let you fight these freaks by yourself."

"Do not speak to me in such a manor," Hogun retaliated.

Loki rolled his eyes and turned to Waverly. "And you question my desire to rule over these buffoons?" Waverly couldn't help but laugh.

"I think we all need to just calm down," Natasha said over all the commotion.

Tony shut his mouth in the middle of a rude comeback and glared at Natasha. "Yes, _mommy."_

"She's right," Bruce said. He shifted uncomfortably as all eyes turned towards him. He was still in his tattered Hulk pants, not having had time to change before they snuck away from Fury. "We are all allies here, despite our past actions."

Steve nodded in agreement. "We all have the same goal."

Hogun sighed and sat back down at a table with his two counterparts. Sif gave Thor a disapproving glare. She would not back down so easily. "Thor," she said, her voice a forced calm. "This is Loki and his," Sif gave Waverly a disgusted glare, "Well whatever the wretch is to him."

Thor placed a hand on Sif's shoulder. He looked down into her eyes and said in a calm, confidant voice. "I trust them." Sif narrowed her eyes but sighed in compliance. She too, returned to her seat.

"Thor," Bruce said before anyone else could argue further. "Now might be a good time to tell us what's next."

Thor nodded. "I think that my forces, combined with the mighty Avengers, my brother, and Lady Waverly, will be enough to successfully take on the Jotuns and drive them from this realm. But, I do not know what their true motives are." Thor turned to look at Loki. "Brother, you have been on Jotunheim. What do the giants want?"

The god of mischief, an arm still around Waverly, sighed. "I do not pretend to understand the actions of my brethren. But, from what their new king has told me, I can tell you this. The Jotuns are displeased with me, to say the least, considering I killed Laufey and attempted to destroy their realm."

"Understandable," Both Tony and Hogun huffed. Thor silenced both of them with a glare.

"That is why they are after me," Loki said. "Livarre, my real brother, wishes to kill me."

"To avenge your father?" Thor asked quietly.

Loki shrugged. "I do not know why. Anger, justice, selfish desire. Anything could be his motive."

"But why did they continue to attack Asgard once they knew you had fled," Sif asked. The bitterness in her voce sliced through the room.

"I did not flee," Loki spat. He released Waverly and took a threatening step towards Sif. "I went to retrieve my weapon to better battle the monsters."

"You fled, like the coward you are." Sif spat back.

"Enough!" Thor thundered. "We are on the same side. End your childish bickering." Sif silenced herself but Loki continued to glare angrily at her. "Loki," Thor said warningly.

Loki let his eyes roll once more. "Yes, all right." He sighed to compose himself. He never particularly liked Sif. She always seemed to see through him. Everything about her made Loki dislike her; the power and strength she had, her wits and cunning, her cleverness in battle. She was a woman! She should not be one of Asgard's finest warriors. But, Waverly was just like Sif. Headstrong, confidant, intelligent; well Loki could go on for some time. But, for some reason, these traits didn't bother him so much when Waverly expressed them as they did with Sif.

Crossing back to Waverly, Loki let the calm she exuded over him engulf him. He breathed through his nose and let his anger at Sif dissipate. "The Jotuns," he said, his voice now calm, "They have always waged war against us." Loki caught himself. He had included himself with his brother and the other Asgardians like he had in days of old. Loki gave himself a small shake. "They have always wished to destroy Asgard," he added. "We all know this. I think their anger with me was just an excuse to once more attack this realm."

Thor nodded. "Yes, that seems logical. They have allowed their anger to fester since you killed Laufey."

"Exactly," Loki said. "Livarre built up his army, waiting for the opportune moment to strike. Upon my imprisonment, that moment came."

"There's still something I don't understand. Why did they come to Earth?" Natasha asked.

"They were chasing Loki," Waverly answered. "Just another excuse to start a war with another realm."

Loki put a hand to his chin. "She is right. But I think there is something else."

"Please share, Reindeer Games," said Tony.

Loki ignored the insult and replied in a slow voice. "While I was on Jotunheim, Livarre said something. He said that even though he had captured me, his forces would return to Midgard. He wants to rein over the realm like in the days of old. He wants to destroy the humans."

"Days of old?" Bruce echoed. "Like the stories in Norse mythology?"

Loki nodded.

"So." Tony began pacing around the room, a hand to his chin in thought. "These Frost Giants, they've been planning to attack both Earth and Asgard. They just used Loki as an excuse to do so."

"That is what I believe," Loki said. "But again, I do not pretend to understand the actions of…"

"Your people?" Sif suggested.

"Enough," Thor scolded. "I think Loki is right. What he has pieced together makes since, based off of past actions of the Jotuns."

"Well, they've cleared out of Earth," Steve said. "So we just have to kick 'em out of Asgard?"

"They will return to Midgard," Loki said. "And I am sure once we drive them from this realm, they will descend upon yours."

"Should we warn Fury?" Natasha asked.

"I don't think that'd be a good idea, circumstances considered," said Clint.

"Well, what's the plan then?" Natasha turned to look at Waverly. Clint's eyes also fell on his sister. Steve, Bruce, and Tony sat and looked at the girl expectantly. Even Thor turned his attention to Waverly.

"What? Me? I'm supposed to have a plan?" Waverly asked, eyes wide with shock. "Um, don't you all remember, I'm not a real agent here."

"Waverly." Clint walked over to his sister and put a hand on her shoulder. "Something's changed in you since your powers started working, you know it has. You're different. It was your idea to go get Loki and that worked out pretty well. So, what's next?"

Waverly sighed. She turned her eyes towards Loki. Even the god of mischief was looking to her as the leader of this operation. Waverly felt very nervous. Clint was right, something had stirred inside her ever since her powers had been awakened. She knew that. She felt much more like a SHIELD agent. But, having the fate of two realms rest on her shoulders, that was a tad overwhelming. _I don't know what to do._

Waverly looked around the room. She was in the presence of Earth's mightiest heroes and Asgard's strongest warriors. She was in the company of a super human, two gods, the Incredible Hulk, and the Warriors Three. And they were all looking to her for their next move. She must be doing something right to be in this position. Waverly took a deep breath to calm her nerves. "Okay, I won't pretend I'm some master tactician or anything, but here's what I think. Thor, I think you and your warriors should attack the giants at the palace. They'll be expecting retaliation from you. The rest of us will sneak around and enter the back of the palace, surrounding the giant's inside. Then we just pick them off."

Thor nodded. "Spoken like a true warrior. Surround the enemy."

"Are the Frost Giants concentrated in the palace, though?" Natasha asked. "If there are others in the city, we may become the ones who are surrounded."

Finally, Hemidall spoke up. His deep, wise voice boomed around the room. "There are Frost Giants in the city, but they are civilians. The guards and soldiers are all in the palace."

"Then, I think it's settled. We do as Waverly suggested," Loki said. His tone left little room for argument.

Still, Sif would not go along with things so easily. "How do we know that Loki and Waverly aren't in league with the Jotuns? They could be leading us into the palace just so they can kill Frigga and claim victory over us."

Loki let out an irritated huff that sounded more like a growl. Thor shot him a look that clearly said, 'Hold your tongue,' but it was Waverly who spoke up.

"All right, _Zena_," she said, taking a step towards Sif. "I am sick and tired of you undermining everything I say! Yes, I killed Odin. And I feel terrible for it. But I did it to save Loki. Thor thinks there is good in him. Thor has forgiven me and I freakin' killed his father. You need to lay off." Tendrils of ice curled their way around Waverly's fingers. She took a breath to calm herself. Letting her powers get the best of her, just because she was angry, was not a good idea at this point in time. "If we really wanted to take over Asgard with the Frost Giants, we wouldn't have left when they attacked us. Loki hates them. I hate them. Do you really think we're on their side?"

Sif crossed her arms but the scowl that had been present on her face ever since Loki and Waverly had arrived disappeared. "I suppose not."

"Exactly," Waverly said, finishing the conversation. "We're here to help. If you don't want it, then don't come with us."

Sif sighed but said nothing more. An awkward silence fell between the two women. Waverly was glaring at the warrior and Sif's dark-eyed gaze bore holes in the floor.

Thor took a tentative step towards the girls. "I think you two should form a truce. You are on the same side. Sif, I have forgiven Waverly, so should you. And Waverly, Sif is simply concerned with the wellbeing of her home. But we are allies. We will work together to eliminate the Jotuns. Please, we must work together."

Sif's eyes shot up to Thor's face. When she locked gazes with the god of thunder, her eyes softened. She sighed once more. "Yes, all right. You are the king. You know what is best."

Waverly remained on Thor's other side, her arms crossed tightly across her chest. She glared from Thor to Sif and then to Loki who placed a cool hand on her shoulder. The god of mischief leaned in close to the girl and whispered in her ear.

"I do not get along with Sif, either. But I was willing to work with those who I despise for you. Make amends with her for the time being."

Loki's genuineness and wisdom shocked Waverly. She looked deep into his emerald green eyes. He was being truthful. But, as usual, there was that mischievous glint in his eyes and that ever so subtle tilt of his lips that signified he wasn't speaking everything that was on his mind. He thought Waverly should set aside her differences with Sif for the time being, but only just. As soon as the Jotuns were gone, Loki would be back on his take over Asgard trip. Would Waverly join him? If she was honest with herself, she really didn't know. She knew Loki was in the wrong but ever since she learned the truth about her past and learned what Fury had kept from her she could understand Loki's pain, confusion, and his need to rule. Would she go along with him? Waverly strongly disliked Sif. If she were to ally herself with Loki, she'd enjoy having a go with the warrior. But, joining Loki meant turning against Thor, and in turn the Avengers; which meant her brother. Waverly couldn't do that. But, she loved Loki, too. She couldn't see herself marching along to Fury's fife, battling the god of mischief with the other Avengers.

Waverly let out a slow, even sigh. She had a lot to think about but now was not the time. For now, she would do as Thor requested and make amends with Sif. Waverly held out her hand and removed the scowl from her face. "Yes, I'll play nice with Sif."

The Ice Hawk and the warrior shook hands, if a bit reluctantly. Thor smiled and clapped both girls on the back. Waverly, still not used to Thor's strength, dropped to her knees under the weight of the gesture.

Laughing, Thor picked Waverly back up to her feet. "It is settled then. Today, we take back our realm!"

Waverly watched as Thor gathered up Sif, Hemidall, and the rest of his forces and prepared to launch the attack on the entrance to the palace. Meanwhile, Loki was instructing the Avengers on how to sneak into the back entrances of the palace. He told them about secret passages that the Jotuns likely knew nothing about and told them the most strategic vantage points the palace had to offer.

In no time at all, both factions of the group were ready to attack the occupying Jotuns. Thor led his group off first, calling loudly to the Frost Giants to come and face the justice of his hammer. Sticking to the shadows, Loki and Waverly led the Avengers to the other side of the palace. The faint sounds of battle reached their ears as they came up to the rear of the palace.

"It's time," Loki said, more to Waverly than the others.

Waverly nodded. She directed the others inside the palace but hung back with Loki before she too dived into battle. "Watch your back," she said, "I didn't save your butt twice for you to die now."

Loki allowed a genuine smile to spread across his face. "I do not plan to be beaten by such primitive creatures."

"You know, you _are_ a Frost Giant."

"But I am also a god."

Waverly rolled her eyes but put a hand behind Loki's neck. She pulled him down to her level and gently kissed him. "You're an arrogant little bastard." Turning from the god, Waverly created two knives out of ice and prepared to enter the castle.

Before she disappeared from his sight, Loki called to her, "You know, once I rule this realm, you will be my queen. I will let you deal with Sif in whatever way you choose."

Waverly turned back to Loki and shook her head. "We'll see."


	21. Chapter 21

**AN: Another short one, sorry! But this is all Loki and I haven't had much of him in the past few chapters. There's sorta a bigish reveal at the end so I didn't want to add any more. Waverly will be in the next chapter. Thanks again to all those who reviewed and favorited! I hope you like!**

**I own nothing.**

Chapter Twenty One:

Loki crept swiftly and silently through the deserted halls of the palace he had grown up in. Signs of the Frost Giant occupation were everywhere; broken artifacts, patches of ice, the frozen bodies of servants. Loki held his spear tightly, ready to attack at a moment's notice. His senses were on edge and he felt magic prickling at his fingertips. He and Waverly had split up upon entering the palace. She had gone to the upper floors with her brother, in search of Frigga. Loki chose to descend into the depths of the palace. There would be Jotuns in the weapons vault, he was sure of it.

As Loki crept down a stone staircase hidden behind a tapestry, he couldn't help but feel that something was not quite right. Livarre's words swam in his head. Something wasn't quite clicking. There was a missing piece to this puzzle. Sure, the Jotuns had waged wars against the Asgardians for millennia. Odin's adoption of Loki ended that for a time. Then, Loki killed Laufey. That single event, well, that and the fact that he had almost destroyed their realm was apparently what motivated Livarre to hunt him down. But how did Livarre build up his forces so quickly?

Loki knew he had done great damage to Jotunheim when he had attempted to destroy their race. The realm itself sustained great physical damage. The lives lost, well they were uncountable. And those that survived, many were weakened or without their powers. So, how did Livarre build such a strong army? The Jotuns hatred of Loki couldn't have been the sole fuel for the flames, so to speak.

The weapons vault was unnaturally cold. Loki slipped quietly around a corner and hid himself amongst the shadows. Perched on either side of the casket, the source of power for the Jotuns, were two large giants. They were armed with stolen Asgardian weapons, in addition to being nearly all-powerful, being so close to the casket.

_Why haven't they taken the casket back to Jotunheim?_ Something definitely did not add up. Loki magicked away his spear and Asgardian garb and allowed his body to revert to its natural form. Slinking into view, Loki smiled warmly at his brethren.

"Brothers," he said, "I am here to relieve you."

The giants exchanged a glance. "Livarre said nothing of a replacement."

Loki confidently strode towards the casket. His silver tongue laid out a sweet lie for the two fools to consume. "Yes, that was before he required your assistance in questioning the Asgardian wrench."

The giant on Loki's left raised a thick black eyebrow. "The queen?"

Loki nodded. "She is being most uncooperative."

The other giant looked at his partner, then at Loki. "Livarre had traveled home. Why is he back?"

Loki rolled his eyes. "You question the king?"

The giants exchanged another glance. "No," they said as one.

"Then go to his aid. I can protect our casket."

As the giants began to walk forward, Loki allowed his Asgardian form to take control of his body once more. His spear materialized in his hand and he sliced swiftly though the necks of the confused Jotuns. Their lifeless bodies dropped to the floor and their blood pooled around Loki's feet.

"Idiots," he muttered. He stepped around his fallen brethren and surveyed the casket. He felt a rush of adrenalin through his veins. Though he despised his Jotun blood, he couldn't deny that he was more powerful in the presence of this magical device. That, added to his silver tongue and self-taught sorcery, and Loki was undoubtedly one of the most powerful beings in all of the nine realms. He had the gifts of both the Jotuns and the Asgardians. Not many individuals could say they had skills acquired from multiple realms. Loki couldn't prevent the hunger for power that had once again gripped him. He could leave, right now. He would take the casket, find Livarre, kill him, and take the Tesseract. With both powerful artifacts at his disposal, he would be unbeatable.

Loki reached out for the blue, glowing source of his Jotun power. His hand stopped just short of grasping the casket. There was something ferociously battling the lust for power that had consumed his heart.

Gritting his teeth, Loki searched desperately for a definition for this competing feeling. His breath quickened as did his pulse. It was another sort of hunger, another kind of lust. Not a craving for power, but a craving for companionship. He wanted the girl; Waverly. She had awakened a hunger in him, much like the casket and the Tesseract fueled his thirst for power.

Loki heaved a strained sigh. He let his hand fall back down to his side. Waverly would not follow him on a path of destruction and dictatorship. She had no desire to kill, enslave, and rule. But, she was hurt. She was angry. She had been used and manipulated just as he had been. Could he twist those emotions and make her as power hungry and vengeful as he was?

Yes he _could._ But _would_ he? No. He knew he couldn't manipulate her. He would never be able to use his magic against her. She loved him with such pureness, such innocence. No matter how much angst he harbored, how hurt and angry and vengeful he felt, he just could not envision himself using his magic to negatively impact the human girl.

But, on the reverse side of things, was her love for him enough to allow him to let go of all the pain and anger in his heart? Was her love worth turning away from these selfish desires to rule and instead, becoming _good_ once more?

He would be happy with her, not matter what path he chose; that he knew. But the thought of just forgetting all the pain he had been put through, forgetting the anger, the hurt, the way he was used. Forgetting the shadow he had always lived in. Forgetting how he was the unloved son. How could he just let all that go?

She had done it. She had been lied to her entire life. She was nothing more than a science experiment. Yet, her undying love and devotion to her brother and his team was, Loki couldn't deny it, moving. She was a human; one of the weaker minded creatures of the nine realms and she had moved past such primal instincts of revenge and retaliation. Surely he, as a god, should be better than that?

Loki closed his eyes and inhaled sharply. He didn't know what was going on in his mind. He didn't know what side he was on. He was confused and he didn't like it. He had never felt so out of control, so vulnerable

Clenching his spear so tightly that his knuckles turned white, Loki banished ideas of domination for the time being. He would assist the girl and Thor, as he had promised. Then he would plan his next move. He was in a vulnerable state at the current time and was in no position to make a decision that would alter his life forever.

"You are a coward."

Loki spun around at the sound of the cold voice. His eyes fell on the sight of his biological brother, standing in the doorway of the weapon's vault. The Frost Giant's face was contorted in an evil grin. Livarre walked slowly towards Loki.

"You have our race's source of unlimited power at your fingertips, yet you do not take it for yourself. You, who so often carried on about glorious purpose and how you were meant to rule." Livarre laughed. "You are pathetic."

"I will be in no man's debt," Loki said slowly. "No matter what realm he may come from. Once I sort out my affairs, the casket will be mine, along with the Tesseract."

"Why not take them now?" Livarre stopped an arm's length away from Loki. The two Jotuns glared at each other with intense hatred. "Why not seize this realm for yourself, like you so desperately desire?"

"You are brash and arrogant. When the time comes, I will rule this realm."

"Your time won't come," Livarre said in a low voice. He took another step towards his younger brother. "You have run out of excuses and places to hide, Loki."

Loki allowed a sarcastic smile to spread across his face. "Um, no. I really think I still have the upper hand here. You have a mindless army powered by nothing but hate. Hate for me. I have a desire and passion to rule these realms, as I rightfully should."

Livarre rolled his eyes. "You are a dramatic creature."

"I have the Avengers palm of my hand. Right now, I am untouchable."

"No, they have you." Livarre was now just inches from Loki. "You are in their debt."

"See, that is where you are wrong."

"No!" Livarre yelled. Loki actually took a step back. Livarre's eyes were filled with not only anger and hate towards the dwarf giant, but a pain that Loki had known once before. "You are the one who is wrong! Do you not remember how you nearly destroyed us? Left us for dead? Your own flesh and blood?"

Loki gripped his spear tighter and shifted his feet into a fighting stance. Livarre's eyes were now full of madness. Loki had the feeling he was going to discover what the missing piece to all of this was.

"We were nothing. Cowering, wounded. Then he came. He would have finished where you did not. But he offered us a bargain."

Loki remained silent, allowing Livarre to carry on with his mad rant.

"He would restore our realm to what it was before you so foolishly tried to destroy it. He would return to us our power and our strength. But if, and only if, we brought him you." Spittle rained from Livarre's lips as he shouted at Loki. "I have no use for you. I do not care whether you live or die. You are a runt and an exile. I had no desire to bring your pathetic soul to Jotunheim and have you taint our land with your failure. But he ordered it! And so it had to be done."

Loki was not one to experience fear. He could only remember a few brief instances in his childhood when he had felt real fear. And one rather recent occasion that had caused his stomach to bubble. But that was more apprehension than fear; at least, that was what Loki told himself. But now, seeing the madness in Livarre's eyes, hearing the pain in his voice, Loki had to admit he was feeling rather uneasy.

"He can cause pain like nothing you could imagine in your darkest nightmares," Livarre went on. "I tried to con him. I tried to take my power and run. But he does not work like that. You cannot escape from him. He found me. I was brought to my knees. He will bring you to yours." Livarre's rant stopped and he stood panting. His orange eyes were locked on Loki's face.

Loki watched his brother in silence for a moment. Though he already knew the answer, he asked, "Who, brother?"

"The one you have betrayed. The Other One."


	22. Chapter 22

**AN: A little longer than the last one, but still kinda short, sorry! Next one will be longer and have more action in it. Thanks to those who have reviewed and favorited and added this to their alerts.**

**I own nothing!**

Chapter Twenty Two:

Loki felt his stomach drop. When Livarre had begun his mad rant, the god of mischief knew what Livarre was leading up to. But still, hearing it caused fear to churn in the pit of the god's stomach. There were few he feared; Thor and Odin when he was younger, and then recently, The Other. He had completely forgotten the Other's promise to him. _There will be no realm, no barren moon, no crevice where he cannot find you._ Loki's anger and hatred of Thor and the Avengers had completely washed thoughts of the Other from his mind. The Other had supplied him with his army of Chituari warriors. The Other had promised Midgard to Loki as long as the Tesseract, and the universe, was his to rule.

But Loki had failed. The Avengers had beaten him and taken the Tesseract from him. The Chituari were nearly wiped out. Midgard had not fallen. The Other was no closer to ruling the universe than Loki was to ruling Midgard. And so, as per his promise, the Other was out for Loki's blood.

The Other was the missing piece to this puzzle. He had rebuilt Jotunheim for the Frost Giants and restored their power to them. He had helped Livarre build up his forces; all so that they could hunt down Loki for him.

"I am going to turn you over to him, Loki, and then Jotunheim will be mine once more." Livarre breached the short distance between himself and the god. He lashed out with both arms and grabbed Loki around the neck.

Loki would not be taken so easily. Mimicking what he had seen Waverly do just hours previously, Loki swung himself into the air using Livarre's arms. He kicked forward with his left foot and heard the satisfying crack of one of Livarre's ribs. The brothers landed in a heap on the ground. Loki was on top. He jabbed his spear through the fabric of Livarre's shirt, effectively pinning the giant to the ground. The god scrambled back up to his feet.

"Where is he, Livarre?" Loki snarled.

"He sends his servants out to hunt you," Livarre replied. He pried himself from the ground, ripping his shirt in the process. "He has sent me to collect you. He resides safely in a realm known to no one."

"I have no plans to return to The Other." Blue light swirled around Loki's hands. He collected the magical energy in a ball, aiming at the giant. "I am sorry, but you will have to have to tell him you have failed."

Loki was about to unleash his magic on Livarre when the Jotun sprang at the god once more. Caught off guard, Loki's magic fizzled out before he could fire at his brother. Livarre had him around the neck once more. There was madness in the Frost Giant's eyes.

"I cannot fail him," yelled Livarre. "He will kill every last one of the Jotuns and he will rip Jotunheim piece by piece. Jotunheim is my realm to rule! I will not have that taken from me!"

Loki charged up a shot of magic once more and fired the orb of energy into Livarre's chest before the Jotun could do anything else. Livarre's hands were ripped from Loki's neck and he flew across the weapons vault, landing against the opposite wall. A thin plume of smoke rose from the giant's chest. Loki pulled his spear from the ground and crossed to his brother. There was no sign of life coming from the fallen giant. Loki kicked Livarre so that he was lying on his back. Loki's brother's eyes were closed and his mouth hung open with a trickle of blood seeping from the corner.

* * *

Hawkeye leaned out of the window a floor above Frigga's bedroom. As per Waverly's description, a balcony jutted out from the palace below him. He dropped swiftly and silently to the stone below. The archer selected an arrow from his arsenal and readied his bow. Creeping to the glass doors that led to the inside of the palace, he waited for his sister's signal.

Inside the palace, Waverly crept through the deserted corridors she now knew so well. She was just yards away from Frigga's bedroom door. Peaking around a corner, she saw two huge Frost Giants stood guard on either side of the door. Water slid out of Waverly's palms and formed two slender spears in her hands. Jumping into the giants' view, Waverly shot the ice spears forward. Both hit their mark, piercing each of the giants in the forehead. The Jotuns fell to the ground with a thump. Waverly sprinted across the hall to the door and wrenched it open.

"Now, Hawkeye!"

As assumed, at least half a dozen Frost Giants were inside Frigga's quarters, standing guard over their prisoner. Odin's body had been removed from the room; Waverly was thankful for that. Several of the giants rushed at Waverly. Two grabbed the queen by her arms and began to drag her to a corner of the room. The queen shrieked as her skin began to freeze before her eyes.

At Waverly's shout, Hawkeye kicked in the door and let his arrow fly. A giant that was making for his sister was his first victim. He left the rest to Waverly and turned to the two Jotuns who had the queen in their grasp. He hit them with plain arrows, not wanting any shrapnel from his more explosive weapons to harm the queen. Once the queen was free of the icy grip of the giants, Hawkeye turned to aid his sister.

Ice Hawk had taken out two giants on her own. Adding the three Hawkeye killed left only one giant remaining. He had Ice Hawk in a headlock, squeezing the girl's face blue. Well, Hawkeye couldn't really tell how badly his sister was suffocating; she was still covered in blue body paint. Still, Hawkeye wasted no time taking out the final giant.

As the giant fell lifelessly to the ground, Waverly gasped and rubbed her neck. "Thanks," she chocked.

Clint nodded. "Let's get her out of here."

"No," Frigga gasped. She backed into the corner of the room, terror in her eyes. "She killed Odin!" The queen pointed a shaking finger at Waverly.

"Frigga, please listen," Waverly began. She held her palms up, a universal sign of peace.

"No. Where is Thor? What have you done to him?" Frigga didn't get to question further. Clint had released a smaller weapon from his belt and shot the Asgardian queen with a sedative dart.

"Dude!" Waverly yelled. "You just shot her?"

"With a dart, she'll be fine," Clint said. "And like you have room to talk. You killed her husband. She was hysterical. It'll be best if Thor is there to explain everything to her. She'll be easier to get to him this way." Clint crossed the room and gently picked up Frigga. He slung her sleeping form gently over his shoulder. "You'll have to be ready to fight any giants we come across. I can't shoot with her."

Waverly nodded. She turned to lead Clint back out of the palace and to the hut. She was maybe two steps out into the hall when a voice from behind her stopped her dead in her tracks.

"We need to leave, now." It was Loki.

Waverly turned and her eyes fell on the god of mischief. He looked like he had been fighting, but he didn't appear hurt. "All right," she said. "Can you help us with your mother?"

"No," Loki said. He grabbed Waverly by the shoulder and pulled her closer to him. Leaning down to whisper in her ear, he continued, "We need to flee this realm. We must go somewhere far away for the time being."

"What?" Waverly said, pulling away. "Why? Loki, what the hell is going on?"

Clint stood by, looking from the girl to the god, confusion written all over his face.

Loki sighed with annoyance. "Livarre is dead," he said shortly. "The Avengers and my brother can handle the rest of the Jotuns. But we must leave. Now."

Waverly stood firmly on the spot. "What is going on?" She asked sternly.

"There are greater forces at work here than you can imagine," Loki said. He began walking down the hall, dragging Waverly behind him.

Clint trailed behind. "Hey, reindeer games, you had best explain what's going on. I can still shoot an arrow through your eye."

Barring his teeth, Loki growled. "I am in great danger," he said in a rushed voice, "And by association, so is she." He nodded at Waverly. "We need to hide ourselves until I can formulate a way out of our current situation."

"Danger? From what?" Waverly asked.

"Yes, Loki, from what?"

The god huffed with irritation. "There is not enough time to explain now."

"If she's in danger, your best bet is to explain it to me now," Clint threatened. "I can wait hours for the perfect shot, but you Loki, I have no patience with you."

"The Other, all right," Loki snapped.

"Who?" The Bartons questioned.

"The one who supplied me with my army. I did not provide him with the Tesseract, so he is out for my blood. I am fairly certain he will use her against me. He had ordered the Jotuns to invade Asgard and Midgard to look for me."

Waverly and Clint exchanged a glance. Even behind the blue paint, it was clear Waverly's face had paled. "Who… who is The Other?"

"He is a being of no realm known to any being. He is evil personified. He will make your deepest, darkest nightmares seem like child's play." Loki's voice was low. There was a fear in his words, but the god was more concerned over Waverly's safety than his own. He was certain, if it came down to it, he could face The Other in battle. He could beat him, but only just. Waverly, on the other hand, did not stand a chance against The Other's power.

"Whoever this 'Other' creep is, the Avengers and SHEILD will be more than enough to eliminate him," Clint said. "You'll stay with us."

Loki laughed. "The Other's power makes your SHIELD look like children with sticks."

"I've never heard of him. If he's as badass as you say, SHIELD would no doubt have a file on him."

"Listen, you irritating flesh bag," Loki snapped at the archer. "No one knows of The Other. It was by chance I fell into his grasp. I had not known of his existence until that moment."

"I'm not letting you wander off, running from this so called Other, just so you can escape your punishment."

"Any punishment you pathetic mortals can give me is nothing next to what The Other can do!"

"All right," Waverly yelled. "Shut it, both of you. We have an assignment. We get Frigga back to the hut and then help Thor and the others boot the rest of the giants out. Then will sort out whatever has your panties in a twist." Waverly nodded at Loki and chose to ignore the fear in his eyes. She twirled around and stalked off down the hall.

Clint followed after throwing Loki an irritated glare.

For a brief moment, Loki thought of simply teleporting himself to a far corner of the universe. He could hide there and formulate a scheme to get The Other off his scent. He would strengthen his powers, learn more magic. Loki would kill The Other and then take the universe for himself. Loki was content with that idea except for one thing. Waverly. She would not stray from her mission of freeing Asgard from the Jotuns. She would stay with her brother and SHILED. Loki knew that once The Other found out about Livarre's death, if he didn't know already, he would find another way to pursue the god of mischief. If The Other was as knowledgeable as he claimed, which he probably was, then he must know of Loki's feelings for the human. He would surely use the girl to track down Loki.

So, for the time being, Loki settled to continue on playing nicely with the Avengers. He would rid Asgard of his brethren, and then, if he had to, he'd kidnap Waverly and take her away with him. He'd keep her safe. SHEILD and the Avengers stood no chance against The Other.


	23. Chapter 23

**AN: Yay! A long one! Thanks again to all the reviews and stuff, you guys are awesome! This one is longer and has a lot of feels in it, but the story was over do for some. I hope you like!**

**I own nothing.**

Chapter Twenty Three:

With Frigga safely back at the hut, Loki, Waverly, and Clint teleported back to the palace to finish ridding the place of the Frost Giants. Clint had assured the others that the sedative would keep Frigga asleep for a good three hours; plenty of time to finish the battle. As the odd trio made their way back through the halls of the palace, Waverly and Loki spoke in hushed voices.

"Loki, what is going on?"

"There are forces in this universe that even I dare not trifle with," the god hissed. "At least not now. There is magic; dark, black magic that can defeat The Other, but it will take time for me to learn that kind of sorcery."

"I still don't understand, who is this Other?" Waverly asked.

"There is no being in any of the realms who knows who he is. He is the one who supplied me with the Chituari." Loki slowed his pace so that Clint, who was trying in vain to eavesdrop, was several paces ahead of him. He talked quickly. The sounds of battle were growing louder with every step. Soon the trio would meet up with Thor and the others and once more be thrust into battle. "Some say he is simply the ruler of the Chituari. I am not so foolish. He is not Chituarian, nor is he of Asgard, Midgard, or any realm known. To be in his presence… Waverly, I am not one to be afraid… The Other, he is truly something to be feared. You humans think I am bad… The Other makes me look like… who is it? The Midgardian legend? Runs around in a ridiculous suit, handing out gifts to children?"

"Santa Claus?" Waverly suggested.

"Yes, that foolish character."

Waverly smiled despite the growing anxiety in the pit of her stomach. "Loki, I don't think there's a being alive that can make _you_ look like Santa. You're more like Comet or Blitzen." Suppressing a laugh at the confused look on Loki's face, Waverly went on. "Look, Loki. With you and Thor on our side, I really don't see anyone being a threat to the Avengers and SHIELD."

Loki did not look relieved. "We will discuss this later." Loki quickened his pace to keep up with Clint.

Waverly had to admit that Loki looked thoroughly spooked. And honestly, that scared her to death. If there was someone Loki was afraid of, that individual must really be something to fear. Waverly swallowed hard, suddenly fighting back nausea. She would keep her brave face until the madness with the Frost Giants was over, but after that, Loki's idea of running off to hide didn't sound all that bad. Still, whoever this Other was, if he was really out for Loki and if he was as terrible as Loki made him out to be, he would turn the universe inside out looking for him. And surely, the Avengers would try and eliminate him. If he was as evil as Loki claimed, could the Avengers take him out? As comforting as the thought of running away with Loki was, Waverly couldn't live with herself if she left her brother and the others to face this monster alone.

Loki had some explaining to do and Waverly had some tough decisions to make. But there would have to be time for that later. They were nearing the site of the main battle. Cries of fallen giants could be heard, as well as Thor's thunderous battle cry. Waverly watched her brother arm his bow and Loki ready his spear. The two enemies turned allies dove into the depths of battle. Before Waverly followed, she realized there would be no way she could choose between Loki and Clint. She loved them both, albeit in different ways. But she couldn't choose one over the other.

* * *

Loki shoved his fears of The Other to the back of his mind. Now he must concentrate on the battle at hand. Forming a blue ball of energy, Loki fired his magic into the swarm of Frost Giants around him. His blast caught two of the beasts and sent them crashing through the opposite wall. Loki heard a thud next to him and turned to see his brother, smiling.

"Good to have you here, brother. Like in the days of old."

Loki nodded but said nothing. Truthfully, it did feel good, fighting alongside Thor. Though the gods had vastly different skill sets, in battle, they complimented each other nicely, like two sides of a sword. Thor was brute strength and overwhelming force. Loki was sly and cunning and struck the enemy before they could see it coming. As the two gods slew the giants around them, Thor explained the situation to Loki.

"We have the remainder of the Jotuns in this room," Thor called over his shoulder. "The ones we have not rounded up here have retreated to Jotunheim. We cannot locate their leader."

"Livarre is dead," Loki said as he plunged his spear into the heart of a Jotun. "I saw to that. The rest will be finished off quickly." Loki paused, unsure if he should continue. He could tell Thor about The Other. But would it do the god of thunder any good? No. The Other would still come to Asgard, searching for Loki. He would destroy this realm in his search. As much as Loki disliked helping Thor, Asgard was a beautiful realm. Loki desperately wanted the rule the realm for himself. He couldn't very well do that if The Other destroyed it. Ideally, Loki would love if his power, combined with the might of Thor and the Avengers, would be enough to defeat The Other. But Loki knew it would take a great deal of luck for them to topple the villainous Other. Loki himself would have to brush up on some spells and learn magic so dark, he hadn't even dreamt of attempting it in the past. "Thor," Loki said, his voice serious. He blasted two Jotuns who had charged at him and his adoptive brother. He pushed away the thrill of battle and grasped the god of thunder by the shoulders. "There is a force at work here that is stronger than even our combined might. We will rid Asgard of the Jotuns but then we must return to Midgard. At once. Leave the Warriors Three in charge. Let them awaken Mother and explain all that has occurred to her. We take Waverly and the Avengers and return to SHIELD. The Other will not think to look for me there so soon. We will form a plan of attack."

Thor looked thoroughly confused. His blue eyes narrowed and brow furrowed, he processed his younger brother's words. "The Other? Loki, what is this you speak of?"

"Finish the Jotuns off quickly. Then I will explain to you."

Thor nodded and jumped back into battle, hammer swinging at his side. Loki watched his brother for a brief moment before he too plunged into battle once more. Casting several illusions of himself to do the fighting for him, Loki crept to a dark corner of the now nearly destroyed dining hall to think for a moment. He wasn't quite sure what had come over him, offering to help Thor and the Avengers fight off The Other. The chances of beating him were slim to none. Loki was still vastly angry and jealous of Thor; but standing idly aside as The Other ravaged Asgard in his search for him; Loki didn't feel at all comfortable with that idea. Loki pretended that the thought of The Other destroying the realm he longed to rule was what was motivating his current actions, but he knew it was more than that. He had been trying to fight it for so long, but he wasn't sure if he could any longer. And he didn't know if he even wanted to fight it. Waverly, and the love between them, was changing Loki. Their bond made him feel so much like the prince he used to be; the son of Frigga. He was Thor's companion, friend, and ally in battle. He was the god of mischief and lies, but he was loved by his, dare he say it, family and friends. The feelings Waverly caused in him, the warmth of her touch, the purity of her love, the hunger that was awakened by her kiss; it was all melting the ice that had suffocated his heart. Loki's love for the mortal was driving him do go good, as he did all those centuries ago.

Loki wasn't unhappy with this change. It just felt odd. He was so hurt and so angry that the thought of not seeking revenge… well he just couldn't not seek revenge. But he wasn't as angry as he used to be. He didn't want to _kill_ Thor; maybe severely wound or maim, but not kill.

And, Loki couldn't forget Waverly. Whenever he thought of her, which was often to be completely honest, he felt a surge of heat inside him. As childish and foolish as it made him feel, his midsection wriggled with a pleasant feeling any time the human girl crossed his mind. The god of mischief felt things for her that he never thought he could feel for another individual. He had the overwhelming urge to protect her and keep her safe. He wanted to be with her; feel her touch, smell her hair, receive her kisses, and breathe in her warmth. He had other urges too; some not so innocent. Of all the changes Loki had been going through lately, all the messed up emotions battling around in his mind, the one he didn't mind feeling at all was love. He didn't care if he ruled Asgard, Midgard, or whatever realm, so long as it was Waverly who was his queen. He would learn sorcery that would make her a goddess, so that she could live thousands of years by his side.

All that could never happen, though, if The Other was out for Loki. He would chase Loki down, by any means necessary. That included using Waverly to get to him. Loki's stomach twisted uncomfortably. The thought of The Other using Waverly, manipulating her, hurting her, and eventually killing her made Loki physically sick. The One was powerful, dangerous, and a huge threat. Loki had no desire to face him. But, if the alternative was losing Waverly, Loki reasoned that it would be worth it to increase his knowledge of the darker forms of magic in order to defeat The Other. And, if Thor and his little buddies were willing to aide him, then Loki would gladly accept their help.

One of Loki's illusions sliced through the chest of a Frost Giant. As the dead Jotun fell to the ground, Loki banished his illusions with a wave of his hand. Stepping back out into the thick of things, Loki saw that there were only a few Jotuns remaining. Sif had them cornered. The battle was effectively over.

On the other side of the room, Waverly and Clint were restraining some giants that had survived. The green beast was collecting the fallen soldiers of both sides and laying them against the wall. The other Avengers were busy cleaning up the rest of what used to be the dining hall. Loki located his brother. The god of thunder strode quickly over to Loki's side.

"Brother, we have won. What has gotten you so upset that we must go to Midgard so quickly?" Thor asked.

"I will explain once we are on Midgard. Gather your allies. I will fetch Waverly." Loki answered. He didn't wait for Thor to respond, and instead crossed the room to Waverly's side. When the god reached her, he wasted no time. "We must go." Loki grabbed her arm and began leading her back over to Thor. Clint followed at a trot.

"Okay," Waverly said, forcing Loki to slow down and look at her. She grabbed the edge of his cape and wiped the blue paint from her face. "What has got you so freaked out?"

Loki tugged his cape back from the girl, but did not answer her. "We need to leave."

"Answer her." Clint barked. "I'd like to know what's got you so edgy, too. Whatever it is, I might have to invest in it."

"I've told you," Loki said irritably. "I will provide you with a more adequate explanation once we are gone from this realm."

"Explanation of what?"

Loki growled. Natasha had joined them, slowing down their progress. "Are all humans so irritating?"

Tony dropped down beside the group with a metallic clank. "Only to assholes like you."

Loki put a hand to his temple and rubbed the headache that was starting to form. "If you humans value your lives, you will listen to me and return to Midgard. I can explain it to you there."

"Are you threatening us?" Tony asked. He raised one of his repulsors. "Cuz I'm just waiting for an excuse to blast you into a million little bits."

Without realizing what he was doing, Loki grabbed Waverly's hand in his. He instantly felt soothed and the anger flaring up inside of him died down a bit. He'd never understand it. She was a human. How could her touch affect him so?

Waverly looked up at Loki when he grabbed her hand. She could see he was fighting to restrain himself. Waverly had no desire to go back to Earth and face Fury's wrath, but Loki was clearly very upset. "Okay, listen," she said, cutting off another of Tony's counter-threats. "If I'm still the one in charge here, I say we go back to Earth."

By now, Thor had rounded up the rest of the Avengers and joined the group. "I am in agreement with the Hawk of Ice."

"Then, let's go," Steve added.

"Finally," Loki said with a sigh. "Reason." Before anyone could make any more objections, Loki pounded the ground before them with his spear. With a flash of magical blue light, he teleported the group back to Midgard.

* * *

Loki's magic was really something phenomenal. He managed to transport the group directly into Fury's office in Avengers Tower. The SHIELD director was sitting at his desk and jumped to his feet when the group appeared before him in a flash of light.

Once his eye had adjusted and he saw the forms of his agents before him, he got right down to business. "What in all of hell was that? Can anyone say insubordination? You all should be in serious shit right now! In fact," Nick shot Loki and Waverly a dark glare, "Some of you are. Would someone like to explain what has been going on?"

Thor stepped forward. "Sir Fury, my brother is prepared to explain why he has brought us to your realm."

Fury's eye shot back to Loki. The director crossed his arms and glared pointedly at the god. "And how the hell is he here and not in some Frost Giant prison?"

"I can explain that, sir." Waverly stepped forward. She hadn't forgotten how angry she was with the SHIELD director. Her words were laced with venom, but she wasn't about to start anything with Nick at the present time. She was eager to hear Loki's explanation of everything. Hurriedly, she explained Loki's rescue to Fury. "It was my idea to rescue Loki. The other Avengers agreed to it because no one but you was convinced that the Frost Giants were gone for good. Loki's power was what gave us the upper hand with them. We needed him. We busted him out, kicked the giants out of Asgard, and now we're here." Waverly dropped her voice and glanced back at Loki. "But something happened that has Loki pretty shaken up. He said he'd tell us when we got here."

Nick, who had been listening to Waverly's story with an expressionless face, turned back to Loki. "Well?" He said.

Loki exhaled sharply through his nose. This Fury character really irritated him with the disrespectful tone he used. Loki was a god, for crying out loud, he didn't deserve to be treated like a child by this human. Digging his nails into the palm of his hand, Loki took a step closer to Waverly. Her scent, he wasn't quite sure what it was, something flowery; calmed him. With a level voice, he began. "The Jotuns did not formulate their scheme on their own. They would have been content letting me rot in Asgardian prison."

"Go on," Fury urged.

"There is another force at work. Something more powerful than you can imagine. He supplied me with my army. He is known simply as The Other. He is of no known realm. His power is great and terrible. I had promised him the Tesseract. Obviously, I failed him. So, keeping to his word, he is out for my blood."

"I don't see the problem here," Fury said.

Loki suppressed one of his irritated growls. "I had almost destroyed Jotunheim. He restored the realm and returned the Jotuns their powers. They have failed him. He will no doubt destroy their realm. He will ravage Asgard, looking for me. He will destroy Midgard."

Nick gave a short bark of laughter. "Still don't see the problem. You're here. We just give you to him and that's that."

"Sir," Steve ventured quietly. "I think you're missing the big picture."

Loki nodded. "The Other gave _me_ my army. Was I not your greatest threat? Did you not assemble this team," Loki gestured around him, "In order to fight me. I am powerful, Director Fury, but The Other was what made me such a force to be reckoned with."

"I wouldn't say you're that big a threat," Tony said.

Loki silenced him with a look. "Please you stupid creature, just listen. The Other answers to someone greater. Someone even more powerful and dangerous. I do not even know his name. He wishes to rule the universe, all of the realms. He will destroy those he deems weak. Midgard is one of those realms. This is not about me. This is about every living being in the nine realms."

Silence met Loki's words. Fury put a hand to his chin and looked long and hard at Loki. Waverly felt her stomach drop to her knees. She stepped closer to the god of mischief, instantly feeling safer next to him. Steve, Bruce, and Tony exchanged nervous glances. Clint looked from Fury, to Waverly, to Loki as if hoping one of them would shout, 'April Fools.' Thor looked worriedly at his brother.

It was Natasha that broke the silence. "So, what you're telling us is there's somebody out there that _you_ are afraid of. Someone who is plotting to rule the universe?"

"Yes." Loki said.

"What do you propose we do, Loki?" Fury asked.

Loki took a breath and looked around him. According to all the worried and nervous expressions, he had finally gotten his point across. "If you are willing to work with me, I believe our combined forces may be enough to defeat The Other."

"What about his superior?" Steve asked. "Didn't you say he answers to someone?"

"To my knowledge, which is far more vast than any of yours, The Other does all his master's bidding. I feel if we defeat The Other, we effectively defeat his master as well."

"Well." Bruce had finally spoken. He was back in his human form, tattered Hulk pants hanging around his waist. "Where do we start?"

"We start," Fury began, "By securing the tower. Romanoff, find Hill and some other agents and begin repairing the damages to the tower. Banner, you and Stark take Loki down to the lab. Start compiling a file on this Other. Barton."

Both Waverly and Clint looked up.

Fury sighed. "Hawkeye, accompany them and keep Loki in check. Thor and Rogers, come with me and let's talk strategy."

"What about me?" Waverly asked.

"You can go with your boyfriend," Fury snapped, though a small smile played about his lips. "After you clean that ridiculous blue crap off of you." With that, Fury strode from his office and the Avengers, plus Waverly and Loki, went off to their assigned tasks.

* * *

Loki sat in what Tony deemed a 'swivel-y chair' in the billionaire's extravagant laboratory. Tony and Bruce, now both in normal clothes, were hunched over computer screens. Loki had told them everything he knew about The Other. He explained how when we fell into the abyss after the Bifrost was destroyed, he miraculously survived. He found himself on a barren moon, not known to him previously. The Other was there and, after sparing Loki's life, the two made a bargain. Loki would get an army, if The Other received the Tesseract.

The two geniuses hammered Loki with questions. Loki, while the most knowledgeable individual when concerning The Other, still only had limited knowledge of him. He could only scrape the surface when Banner asked him about The Other's powers and abilities. He couldn't give a precise location of The Other's whereabouts when Stark asked. Hours dragged on while the two Avengers compiled a file on The Other.

Loki had been sitting in silence for some time. Bruce and Tony were muttering to each other and typing away at keyboards and touch screens. They occasionally consulted JARVIS, and using his technology, gleaned a little more information on The Other.

Clint sat across from Loki, on a lab bench, eyes trained on the god, bow armed.

"I'm not going to do anything," Loki said. "If I was going to, I would have already."

Clint shrugged.

"You wanna keep quiet, Reindeer Games," Tony snapped. "Unless you have something else to contribute?"

"I've told you everything I know," Loki sighed.

At that moment the door to Tony's lab opened with a 'woosh.' Waverly walked into the room, looking much more human now that her orange contacts had been removed and the blue paint washed off.

"If he's done then," Waverly said, "Fury wants to see him upstairs."

Bruce absentmindedly waved a hand behind his back. "Take him. We've got what we need from him."

With a huff of relief, Loki jumped from his chair and followed Waverly back out into the hall. The two walked quietly until they were out of earshot of Tony's lab; not that it mattered, the walls to his lab were sound proof.

"What does Fury want?" Loki asked.

"He doesn't," Waverly said. "I just figured you were bored." She looked up at Loki and flashed him the mischievous smile that was so often present on the god's face. The smile did not last long. Waverly's eye darkened and her tone became more serious. "This Other… is he really as bad as you say he is?"

Loki nodded.

"And he's after you?"

Another nod.

"Maybe you shouldn't fight him." Waverly's voice was quiet and her gaze had dropped to the floor.

"Why ever not?" Loki asked.

Waverly swallowed hard. She had led Loki to what the god assumed was her living quarters in the tower. Entering the room, Loki saw a typical human dwelling condensed into the small room. Waverly dropped onto a poufy sofa in the center of the room. Loki sat down beside her.

"I don't want to lose you." The girl's words were so quiet, Loki barely heard them. He didn't respond right away, but instead looked at Waverly. He had to stop referring to her as a girl. Sure, compared to him she was nothing but a child. But, sitting before him in a tight fitting leather jumpsuit, Loki was very aware of Waverly's curves. She seemed so different, now, compared to when he first met her. So much had changed in such a short span of time.

"Why do you love me?" Loki asked.

Waverly finally looked at him again. "What?"

"Why do you love me? You hated me when you first came to Asgard."

Waverly sighed and dropped her head so that it was resting on the back of the couch. She was facing the ceiling but she looked out of the corner of her eyes at Loki. "Something changed," she said. "You looked so lost and hurt that day I asked about your past."

"So you pity me?"

"No." Waverly growled. Another mannerism she picked up from Loki. "I mean yes. Well, I did. But that's not why I love you. You… when you kissed me it just felt… it felt different. It felt good. I wanted more. There's something about you, Loki, that makes me want to be with you. I've never felt like that about anyone before. Does that make sense?"

Loki nodded. It made perfect sense. That was how he felt about her. Before he could stop himself, Loki voiced something that had been nagging at the back of his mind ever since The Other was brought into the picture. He knew what he was about to say would lead to an argument, but he was adamant about his decision. "When we go to fight The Other, you will remain here, where you will be safe."

Waverly shot back up into a sitting position, knocking a couch pillow to the floor. "What? No!"

"Yes," Loki said forcefully. "I forbid you to come with us."

"You can't do that!" Waverly shouted.

"You will stay here, with your director. Leave the battle to myself and the Avengers."

"Have you lost your mind?" Waverly snapped. "I most certainly will not!"

"Yes, you will."

"No, I won't."

"I command it!" Loki shouted, rising to his feet.

"No!" Waverly insisted, rising as well.

"You will stay."

"No!"

"Yes!"

"Why?"

Loki rarely lost control of his emotions. He had a very tight lid on things. Sure, he had felt overwhelming rage and anger for the better part of the last few years of Midgard time, but it had always been in check. It had been used to calculate his every move. Only once could Loki remember losing his temper. That was when Odin told him about his true heritage. But, as so common with this human, Waverly had him at a loss once more. He had nothing to do but to yell at her. "Because I could not bear it if you were killed! Do you understand? If he knows I am in love with you, you will be his biggest target, his greatest weapon to use against me!" Loki ended his rant by turning on his heel and glowering at the opposite wall.

Waverly fell silent, her mouth hanging slightly open. So, that was why Loki didn't want her to fight. He didn't want to lose her. He really loved her._ Frickin' Loki, the god of mischief, really is in love with me._ Waverly took a step towards Loki and put a hand on his back. She felt him tense up at her touch, and then relax. She slid her arm up around his shoulder and unfastened his cape. Letting the fabric drop to the floor, she wrapped herself around the god, resting her cheek against his well-muscled back. He felt cool to her, he always did, but it felt good. She listened to his heart beat for a while. It was fast at first, but the longer she stood there, the more relaxed it became. She slid her hands up and around him to rest on his chest. She felt his slender hands clasp around hers.

"Loki," she said quietly. "I am coming with you. You'll have to use your magic to stop me and I know you won't use it on me. So, I'm going."

Waverly felt Loki sigh in response, but his hands tightened around hers. She was warm against him and very soothing. Loki knew several spells to manipulate time. He was very tempted to freeze time and remain in this moment for as long as he chose. "Very well," he said. His grip was now so strong that it almost hurt. "But you will remain at my side. If, for one second, I feel your life is in danger, I will transport you back here."

Waverly nodded. "Okay, Loki."


	24. Chapter 24

**AN: So this is a filler chapter, that's why it's so short. I have to build up Loki and Waverly's relationship a bit before the big battle, because after that she's going to have to choose between Loki and the Avengers. Thanks so much to all the reviews! I didn't expect this story to be so well received! I'm working on another Avengers fic starring Steve and Waverly. If you're interested, it'd be awesome if you looked that one up as well. I hope you enjoy!**

**I own nothing!**

Chapter Twenty Four:

Loki didn't know how long they stood there like that, their hands clasped together and Waverly's head resting on his back. It felt so good, just being close to the human. Eventually, they moved to back to the couch. Their relationship hadn't been going on for very long before they were thrust into this new war, so the pair, while both being experienced with the opposite sex, were still rather uncomfortable with each other. Loki sat in the corner of the couch while Waverly was lying with her head in his lap. They had been sitting in silence ever since they had come to their agreement.

Finally, Waverly spoke up. "Loki, why do you love me?" She asked.

Loki was rather taken aback by the question, though he supposed he should have seen it coming. He had demanded an answer from the girl, it was to be expected that he answer he as well. The god stayed silent for a moment, trying to pin down the answer. He loved her, he had come to terms with that. But why? Because she was attractive? Loki wasn't that shallow. Because she made him happy? Well, she did. Was that why he loved her? Whenever Loki thought of the girl, he felt warm. He had come to associate the feelings Waverly gave him with warmth and thus warmth became known as happiness. "Because," Loki said, "You make me feel warm."

Waverly felt her cheeks flush at this statement. It was so unlike Loki to say something like this. It was so sweet and innocent… and true. Waverly couldn't really explain it, but she was able to tell when Loki was being honest and when he was lying. There was a change in his voice. She noticed most when they were alone. "That's sweet, Loki," she said.

"You once told me that me being nice was creepy," Loki said with a smirk.

"Well, it used to be. You've kinda grown on me." Waverly swung her legs off the couch and sat back up. She sat cross-legged on the sofa, facing the god of mischief. "Fury will probably want you back down with Tony and Bruce."

"Oh joy." Loki's voice was flat and not at all joyous.

Waverly giggled. "They aren't that bad," she reassured. "Well… Tony is. But Bruce is sweet."

Loki rubbed the back of his neck, remembering the beating the Hulk had given him. "Yes, as sweet as a Bildschneip."

"A what?"

Loki let out a huff of laughter. It felt good, not being the one who was confused. "Never mind," he said. "They are a kind of Asgardian beast."

Waverly nodded. "Right then. Well, we should get back downstairs." Before she stood, she leaned over Loki's lap and pulled his face down to hers. She gently pressed her lips against his. As usual, the wave of hunger that the god's lips enticed washed over her. Waverly pulled away, though it was clear Loki was not ready for their lips to part. "That's why I love you." She said quietly. "That feeling I get."

Back down in the lab, Tony and Bruce were just finishing up the file on The Other. Uploading the information into the SHIELD database, Tony swiveled his chair around to face Loki and Waverly.

"Now that that's all set, what's up with you two?" The billionaire asked.

Waverly glanced from Loki to her brother who was still seated on the lab bench. "I don't know what you mean."

"Oh please," Tony said in his usual arrogant drawl. "'They took Loki! We have to save him!'" He mocked. "What was that then?"

Waverly felt her cheeks redden. "It's none of your business, Stark," she snapped.

"All right," Tony turned to the god. "Reindeer games, you tell me."

"Leave them alone, Tony," Bruce scolded in an exhausted voice. Clearly, Bruce had been the voice of reason all day and was getting tired of telling Tony off.

Tony sighed and spun himself in his chair. "Fine, fine. But when this is all over, you know Fury's going to want to get the 411."

Bruce took the glasses off his face and placed them on his closed laptop. "We paged Fury, telling him we were done. He's still busy with Steve and Thor. Loki," the scientist turned to the god, "Any telling when The Other is going to start his attack."

Loki shook his head. "There is no telling when he will strike. I'm sure he is quite busy punishing the Jotuns at the current moment."

"I would too," said Tony. "They failed to kick your ass. Lame."

Everyone in the room, Tony excluded, rolled their eyes. Sure, Clint and Bruce still weren't pleased with the new addition to their team, but the constant bickering that Tony caused was beginning to ware on everyone's nerves.

"As I was saying," Loki said in a voice of restrained calm. "The quicker we take action, the better."

"There's still the problem of locating him," Clint pointed out. He hopped off the workbench. "Sure you don't know where he is?" The archer walked up to Loki, arms crossed. Loki dwarfed Clint, but the marksman still tried to intimidate the god.

"As I've said, I do not know his whereabouts." Loki's voice was so strained, he was barely understandable. His teeth were clenched and his hands balled into fists. What he wouldn't give to have a go at these mortals. They needed to be put in their place. He could easily take out Stark and Banner, as they were nothing without armor or green, bulging muscles. Clint may prove to be a challenge; but Loki knew his weaknesses thanks to his trip into Clint's mind. _But,_ Loki reminded himself,_ one of those weakness is his love for his sister. You know full well you cannot bring yourself to harm the hum—Waverly._

"Whatever," Clint conceded. He turned away from Loki to face his sister. "Fury said he wants you in the training center. He says you need to practice with your powers more."

Waverly rolled her eyes. "Well that's just too bad. Because I'm not going."

"Waverly," Clint groaned. "He's the director."

"I quit, remember." Waverly crossed her arms and brought herself up to her full height. Normally, Clint wouldn't be intimidated by his younger sister, but ever since her powers had awakened, she a glint in her eyes that showed she wasn't someone you wanted to cross.

"Okay," Clint said. He took a step back. He knew if it came down to it, he could take her. He was still a good several inches taller and fifty pounds heavier. He was stronger too. But he knew Loki would be on him in seconds. It wouldn't come down to that, though. Clint and Waverly's bond was stronger than this petty nonsense with SHIELD. "I get that you're mad about all of this but sooner or later you're going to have to deal with Fury."

"Well, I pick later." Waverly snapped. "What Fury did was low. It was a total jackass move. I'm furious."

"As you should be," Both Tony and Loki affirmed. The two shared a glare.

"But you're one of us now," Clint said, trying to sound comforting. Comfort was not an assassin's strong suit.

"I'm not going to be one of Fury's little lap dogs," Waverly said. "I don't care what powers I may have."

"We'll talk about this later." Clint ended the conversation. He brushed passed his sister and Loki. "I don't know about the rest of you, but all this science crap crap made me hungry. Anyone going to join me?"

Waverly was suddenly very away of how hungry she was. She couldn't even remember the last time she had eaten. She followed her brother out the door, beckoning Loki to follow. Bruce and Tony trailed behind, somewhat unwillingly.

"How 'bout some shawarma?" Tony suggested.

Bruce rolled his eyes once more and Clint sighed in irritation. "Is this really the time?" Waverly said, looking back at genius.

Tony shrugged. "We can't do anything until we're armed and ready. Might as well."

"How exactly did he manage to become a part of this team?" Loki asked, an eyebrow raised.

Waverly and Bruce both laughed. Tony frowned. "It's a mystery to all of us," Clint muttered.

"You know," Bruce said, "If you take away all the killing, destruction, craziness, evil… wait what was I saying?" He smiled at his own wit.

"I don't know," said Tony. "It sounded like you were about to say something nice about Loki. Maybe we should stop at the infirmary before lunch. Get your brain examined. Yours too." Tony elbowed Waverly.

"I'm being serious, Tony," Bruce said, all joking aside. "You said it too. Loki's got serious skills. He'd be good to have on our side. Ya know, if you can get passed the…" Bruce widened his eyes and plastered a crazed look in his eyes. He held his pointer fingers to his forehead, mimicking Loki's horns.

"If you humans were wise, you would stop jesting at my expense." Loki growled. Though it was clear he was angry with the men around him, the slightest hint of a smile played about his lips. "We will not be allies forever."

Though the odd group was awkwardly at ease joking with each other, at Loki's words they all fell silent. Waverly was especially quiet from that point on. She knew this alliance would come to an end. And when it did, she didn't even want to think about it. Waverly knew she and Loki both still had punishments to face. And she knew Loki still longed to rule Asgard and Midgard. He still hated the Avengers and SHEILD with a passion. But now, she loved him. Even though Waverly knew they had to face The Other, she secretly hoped they wouldn't be able to find him and he'd stay in whatever dark corner of the universe he was currently in. At least that way, the temporary alliance between the Avengers and the god of mischief wouldn't end. Waverly wouldn't have to choose between Loki and Clint. But sooner or later, she would have to choose. It was going to be a hard decision; it made her sick to even think about. Waverly had a decision to make and she knew she was going to hurt someone in the process.


	25. Chapter 25

**AN: This one is a little bit longer... still building up some stuff... there's a lot of fluff at the end here... but soon we'll get to some action. I changed the cover photo for this story. It's a drawing I did of Waverly, it's kinda hard to see but it's just a rough sketch. I plan on drawing another and coloring it. Umm... what else... Oooh! This story has hit 100 reviews which is AWESOME! Thanks for that! I hope you enjoy!**

**I own nothing.**

Chapter Twenty Five:

In what was formerly Tony's living room, Avengers Tower held a cafeteria for SHIELD workers stationed in the building. It was here that Waverly, Loki, and the Avengers sat for lunch. Or dinner. With everything that had been going on, no one was exactly clear on the time of day. Fury had dismissed Thor and Steve, so the god of thunder and the super soldier were present as well. Natasha was still busy with Agent Hill.

Thor sat scarfing down a box of pop tarts. He had chosen to sit next to Loki, which of course simply thrilled the god of mischief. "Brother!" Thor exclaimed, pop tart crumbs falling from his mouth. "It is so good to have you on the side of good once more!"

Loki winced as a crumb landed on his arm. He flicked the offending piece of pastry off and snorted. "Thor, I am no more on the side of good than I am an agent of SHIELD. I am merely allying myself with you and your team until The Other has been eliminated."

"But brother, this is just like times of old."

Loki was showered once more with crumbs. "Must you speak with your mouth full, you buffoon?"

Waverly giggled from Loki's other side.

"But the others agree with me," Thor continued, ignoring Loki's insult. "Do you not?" The god of thunder looked around at the group seated at the table.

Clint gave a snort of disgust and Waverly kicked him under the table. "Ow! What was that for?"

Waverly narrowed her eyes at her brother.

"Okay, look," the archer said with an eye roll. "We've all agreed Loki's this badass fighter and all that. But that doesn't mean we have to like him. I mean, we barely tolerate Tony. I hardly think another arrogant ass hole is a good addition to the team."

Tony opened his mouth to protest, but Loki cut him off. "I believe I never even said that I wanted to join this team."

"And no one asked you to." Everyone looked up as Fury entered the room. "This alliance is temporary." Fury strode over to the table and sat himself directly across from Loki, pushing Clint and Steve apart. "I've read the file you've complied with Stark and Banner."

Loki remained silent, choosing to simply glare at Fury.

"Not much on his where abouts.' Fury continued.

"I feel into his grasp," Loki said shortly. "The Tesseract brought me to Midgard. I don't know where he is."

"You sure about that?"

"Are you questioning my intentions?" Loki asked. He leaned forward in his chair so that his face was inches from Fury's. Green eyes narrowed and frown on his face, the god of mischief continued, his tone conveying the message that he was clearly fed up with Fury. "If I had wanted kill you all, I would have done so for now. I am aligned with you and your precious team for the time being, director. I would ask that you refrain from speaking to me as you have been. I have more power in my finger than you do in this whole building. I have chosen not to use it. Do not make me change my mind."

Fury leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms. His one, dark eye glared at Loki while he thought of a comeback. But, Loki continued.

"I've never traveled to The Other's location. I do not know where it is."

Fury, angry that Loki had cut him off, opened his mouth once again to speak. Again, Loki kept talking.

"If you'll stop questioning my every move, I may tell you something that will help in locating him. But, if you continue doubting me, I'll keep the information to myself."

Fury glared at Loki, his eye an angry slit. "What is it?" He spat, spraying the table top with saliva. Clint and Waverly both pushed their plates away in disgust.

"Do you not remember when you were locating me?" Loki asked.

It was Bruce who responded. "Your spear. It gave off gamma radiation, just like the Tesseract."

"Exactly. In our haste to leave Asgard, we made a crucial error. A deadly mistake." Loki now had everyone's full and undivided attention. "As soon as I realize what we had done, I came to the conclusion that this mistake could actually work to our advantage. No one has been able to successfully use the Tesseract. Not SHIELD, not the Avengers, not even me."

"Brother, during your imprisonment, we came very close to unlocking the cube's true potential." Thor stated.

"Brother." Loki huffed. "Thor. Please allow me to finish." Loki pinched the bridge of his nose, hoping to ward off the headache he knew was coming. "As I was saying, when Asgard fell, Livarre took the casket for himself and the Tesseract for The Other. I doubt he has figured out its true power as of yet. We can use the Tesseract's gamma emissions to track down The Other, just as you traced me with my spear."

"You couldn't have told us this earlier?" Tony questioned.

"You didn't ask."

"We asked if you knew where he was?!" Bruce exclaimed. The doctor calmed himself with a few deep breaths before the Hulk took over his body.

"You asked if I knew his location," Loki said, his usual mischievous smile making a reappearance. "You did not ask if I knew how to track him."

Tony swore, Bruce resumed his deep breathing, Clint threw his fork at Loki, and Fury dropped his head into the palm of his hand.

"I _am _the god of mischief. I wasn't going to make this easy for you." Loki caught the fork inches before it pierced the side of his face.

Waverly nearly fell out of her chair, laughing.

Fury called attention back to himself by slamming his fist on the table. Loki's plate hopped into the air and Steve's glass fell into his lap. "Enough monkey business. Is there anything else, Loki? Tell me now."

"That is everything." Loki answered. The god was completely unfazed by Fury's anger.

While Fury and Loki had a silent staring match, Clint retrieved his thrown fork, Tony and Bruce had calmed themselves, and Steve picked up the broken pieces of his glass. Waverly flicked her wrist and the water soaking Steve's lap jumped from the fabric of his pants and hovered in the air. Another flick and the water morphed into an ice cube and dropped onto the soldier's plate with a 'clink.'

"Right then," Fury said, order finally having been restored to the table. "You are all dismissed, for now. Get some sleep. All of you. First thing in the morning, I want Stark and Banner tracing the Tesseract. The rest of you, be ready to leave at a moment's notice." Fury rose from the table but couldn't resist one last quip at Loki's expense. "Sweet dreams, princess," he said, eye locked on Loki's face.

Loki did not pleasure the director with a response, so Fury turned to leave. He nearly bumped into Natasha who had since finished with Agent Hill and crept silently into the mess hall. "That's all?" The assassin asked. "Where's Loki going to sleep? You certainly aren't going to let him roam the tower?"

Fury paused, cheeks burning at the fact that he had forgotten that not so tiny detail.

"He'll sleep in my room." Waverly said, before Fury could answer.

Almost simultaneously, Clint and Fury both said, "He will not!"

Waverly glared at her brother. "I'm not a little girl, Clint. I've slept with him before."

Clint's fingers planted themselves in his ears. "Oh my god. That is the last thing I want to hear after I've eaten!"

The girl rolled her eyes. "Not like that! God."

Putting an end to the siblings' banter, Loki spoke up. "I will stay with the human girl."

"I don't think so," Fury laughed. "Natasha is right. We can't have you wandering around our headquarters."

"He won't be wandering," Waverly said with irritation. "I'll make sure he stays in my room. I can keep him busy."

Fury raised an eyebrow and Clint's face reddened at Waverly's implications. Putting a hand to his chin, Fury thought for a moment. He really didn't want to have Loki unrestrained in his tower. But he also knew, if he tried to have the god locked up, Waverly would show further insubordination by freeing him. It did seem that as long as Waverly and Loki were together, the god behaved, relatively speaking. Finally, after everyone had stared around in awkward silence, Fury came to a decision. "Loki can stay with you. But his spear gets locked up for the night."

Loki opened his mouth, no doubt to say he didn't need his spear to cause havoc in the building, but Waverly kicked him under the table. Loki shut his mouth and remained silent.

Fury continued. "And I'm having an agent stationed at your door. He'll be armed to the teeth. So don't try anything funny."

Waverly didn't like having some trigger happy SHIELD agent babysitting her and Loki all night, but circumstances considered, she and the god were getting off relatively easy. She kept her mouth shut and nodded. She even managed to mumble out a "Yes, sir,' that didn't sound overly sarcastic.

Without another word, Fury left the mess hall. Natasha entered and took his vacant seat. Bruce and Tony mumbled something about getting a head start on tracking the Tesseract and both vanished from the room. Clint and Natasha sat talking in hushed voices. Steve dismissed himself and went to bed. Waverly, Loki, and Thor remained at the table. A silence so thick it could be cut with a knife hung between the three.

The second Thor opened his mouth to speak, Loki stood. "Waverly, I am tired. Please take me to your quarters."

Waverly, catching Loki's obvious hint that he did not want to talk to his brother, pushed herself off of the bench. "Okay. Follow me."

As the pair left the mess hall, Clint couldn't help but call after them. "You… you… behave. She's my sister." The archer's cheeks flushed again.

Loki smiled evilly and winked at Clint. "Oh, but of course," he said. His tone implied quite the opposite.

* * *

Back in Waverly's room, Loki stripped himself of his armor while the girl changed into what she called pajamas. With no more awkward tension between them, the two climbed into bed and settled into each other's arms, as per usual. Loki was not tired though. Before the girl's breath slowed into its relaxing rhythm, Loki could contain himself no longer. He nudged Waverly until she rolled over and looked at him. Though he longed to be with the girl in the most intimate way possible, there was something else nagging at his mind. Loki would have loved to lie in bed with this girl, trading kisses and other signs of affection, some not so innocent, but he just had to ask.

"Waverly?"

"What?" She asked.

"You said you loved me, correct."

Waverly's brow furrowed in annoyance. "Yes, idiot."

"Your words are true?" Loki looked deeply into Waverly's eyes. Was that concern on his face?

Waverly sighed but her annoyed look vanished. "Yes. I mean it."

"What will become of our relationship once this alliance with the Avengers ends?" Loki's tone was flat but his eyes betrayed his true feelings. Waverly could see a flicker of worry in the god's eyes.

Waverly sat up and dropped her head into her hands. "I don't know, Loki." She said quietly. She took a few deep breaths, forcing herself not to cry. She didn't want to think about this. She didn't want to make a decision. She loved her brother, and the Avengers were like a second family to her. Sure, she was mad at Fury, but not mad enough to completely abandon them. On the other hand, Waverly loved Loki too. Whenever he touched her, his skin sent a cold rush through her body. When he kissed her, her stomach always gave a jolt and she hungered for more. She had become used to sleeping beside the god, feeling the rise and fall of his chest and the weight of his arm over her, hearing his heart beat. Their relationship was still fairly fresh, but she couldn't imagine not sleeping beside the Loki every night.

"I love you," she finally said. "I really do. I want to be with you Loki. You're not the psychopath you were when I first met you. But Clint is my brother." Waverly sighed and dropped her head back to her pillow. Loki leaned over her and she looked up into his face. "I don't expect you to turn good for me. And shockingly, I'm okay with that. I'm not saying I'm going to help you kill people or take over planets, but I know you just can't let go of all the pain and anger in your heart. I've accepted that. But if you're not going to switch sides, the Avengers will still be after you. I can't see myself joining them and hunting you but I also can't see myself joining you and fighting them." Waverly closed her eyes and squeezed them tightly shut. "I just don't know. I guess I'm going to have to choose. Someone is going to get hurt."

Loki remained silent but dropped back down onto the pillow beside the girl. He moved her head back into the crook of his arm and pulled her close to him.

"Loki?" She whispered.

"Yes, dearest?"

"I'm not saying this is my final decision, but if… if I stay here, with Clint, will you be so upset with me that you'd kill me?" Waverly choked out the last few words before a sob escaped her lips. She buried her head in Loki's chest while she silently cried.

Loki wrapped his arms tighter around the girl. Again, he was surprised at how strongly the urge to protect Waverly and keep her from getting hurt burned inside him. He knew he could never harm her in anyway. "I would never hurt you." Loki whispered his response into Waverly's hair. The lust that had ignited in the pit of his stomach died down and he only wanted to hold Waverly until they both fell asleep. Loki felt the girl nod against his chest.

Waverly said a muffled, "I love you," before she dug her head deeper into Loki's chest.

Loki nodded in response. He listened as Waverly's silent sobs gave way to the slow rhythmic breaths of one who has fallen asleep. Loki shifted his head so that his face was nestled in Waverly's hair. Nothing on Asgard smelled as sweet as her hair. As Loki too began to fall asleep, a thought crossed his mind. He hated the thought and repressed it. He never wanted the thought to cross his mind again. But, he knew it was right. If he really loved Waverly, he wouldn't make her choose. He could let her stay here, with her brother.


	26. Chapter 26

**AN: Last filler before we get back to some action. More fluff again but I had to put it in. I forgot to mention that Waverly's appearance in the cover picture was based off of Naliah from Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn. Thanks again to those who review/favorite/follow. I hope you enjoy!**

**I own nothing.**

Chapter Twenty Six:

Waverly's eyes blinked slowly open. For a second, she was very confused. It had been so long since she had slept in her room in Avengers Tower. Once she had calmed herself, the girl rolled onto her back and sat up. Loki was sprawled out next to her. The god's mouth was slightly open and he was snoring quietly. His arm still lay across Waverly's pillow where the girl's head had been moments ago. Waverly cracked her neck and stretched. A smile crept across her face as she debated the many ways she could wake Loki. She decided upon straddling the god. Kneeling over him, Waverly held her right hand before her face. Just by thinking, Waverly encased her hand in ice. It no longer felt cold or weird that ice enclosed her skin. It felt natural and sent a refreshing rush of adrenalin through her veins. Carefully, Waverly placed her icy palm on Loki's bare chest.

The god of mischief's eyes fluttered open. He let out a small shriek which caused Waverly to erupt in giggles. Loki sat up so quickly, Waverly tumbled backwards off his lap and rolled off the bed. Loki threw the thin pink sheet off of his body and looked over the edge of the bed. Waverly was a heap on the floor, shaking with laughter.

"What on Asgard was that?" Loki snapped, though his voice didn't contain its usual venomous sting.

"I had to wake you up somehow." Waverly sat back up and pulled herself back onto her bed.

"A simple shake on the shoulder would have been sufficient!" Loki shivered and pulled the sheet back over his chest.

"You're a Frost Giant," Waverly said with an eye roll. A mischievous smile still danced on her lips. "Shouldn't you like the cold?"

"Not when I'm comfortably warm and asleep in bed!"

Waverly let out another giggle. "Sorry."

Loki huffed and attempted to frown but his eyes betrayed him. The usual malicious glint had since vanished from them whenever Loki was around Waverly. Instead, the god's green eyes were practically soft. Waverly crawled back next to Loki and wormed her way back under the sheets. Loki lay back down as well and draped his arm over her torso.

"How long do you think it'll take to find The Other?" Waverly asked quietly. The tone in the room suddenly changed. Waverly couldn't help but shiver at the thought of The Other. She scooted backward on the bed until her back was against Loki's chest.

"I do not know for sure. It depends how quickly the Man of Iron and the green beast can trace the Tesseract's energy signature."

Waverly rolled over and locked gazes with Loki. "When they find him…" The girl's voice cracked. "When we kill him… what… what will you do?"

Loki tore his gaze away from Waverly's. "I am not entirely sure."

"Will you still try to take over Earth?" Waverly's voice was a whisper.

A guttural sigh escaped Loki's lips. He didn't answer right away. The war of emotions that had been raging inside him ever since he and Waverly kissed flare up once more again. "I was meant to rule," the god finally said. "I should be a king."

Waverly could practically feel the pain in Loki's voice. "Do you really want to be king? Or did you just want that to show Odin you're just as capable as Thor?"

Loki's eyes flitted back down to Waverly's face. He cursed her ability to read his thoughts so well. Honestly, Loki wasn't quite sure why exactly he wanted to rule. His hunger for power had crouched in the pit of his stomach for so long, he no longer remembered what fueled it. It was true, when he was younger and lived in Thor's shadow, much of his pranks and tricks were done simply to undermine his hero of an older brother. Then, when it had come time for Thor's coronation, Loki really did mean everything he had said to his brother that day, but he had also felt Thor was not ready to rule. Loki felt, that at the time, he was the better choice for king. And then, with all that he had done, everything he did to please Odin, to show the Allfather he was just as good as Thor, his adoptive father still did not equate the god of mischief with the god of thunder. The pain and anger Loki felt as he fell into the abyss fester inside him until he came across The Other and formed his scheme with the aide of the Chituari. Loki dropped his head to the pillow. He tried to pinpoint the source of his desire to rule, but he just couldn't. He knew if he continued on this path of devastation and destruction, he would alienate the few people who truly did love him. That thought caused Loki's stomach to squirm. The god had avoided thinking about his feelings ever since the Jotuns had invaded Asgard, but now, Loki knew he had to face his emotions sooner or later. From his time in his cell, Loki had come to realize that the anger he harbored, the pain he felt, all those negative feelings revolved around Odin. He truly loved his adoptive mother. And he was in love with Waverly. Taking over Midgard would just turn the two women against him.

Loki shut his eyes and dug the palms of his hands into his eye sockets. But the thought of being nothing more than a disgraced god and the fallen brother of Thor, king of Asgard, made Loki's cheeks burn. The god couldn't just let go so easily.

Loki also knew that once this mission was over, Waverly would pay for her insubordination by serving as one of the Avengers and living under Fury's constant surveillance. Even if Loki could get off with such a light punishment, assuming he escaped SHEILD's clutches once The Other had been defeated, he couldn't stand the thought of living under the watchful eye of Fury for the rest of his life.

But would all that control, would all that power really be worth it if he wasn't with Waverly? Ever since their first kiss, the god had yearned to be in the human's presence. She fueled a fiery passion in the god's heart that he hadn't felt in ages. Loki needed to be with her. He wanted to make her his, lock her away from the rest of the nine realms so that he, and he alone could protect her, love her, make her happy.

The retched thought that had crossed Loki's mind the night before came back. Only this time, Loki saw a glimmer of hope at the end. That in itself was proof of how much Loki had changed. Hope was something he hadn't believed in for a very long time. Loki knew that if he loved Waverly, he wouldn't make her choose him over her brother. But, there was a way that he wouldn't even have to make the girl choose. If Loki reverted from his evil ways, if he, dare he even think it, joined the Avengers, he could be with Waverly and she would be happy. But did Waverly's love outweigh the pleasure Loki would get from ruling the humans? Loki knew the answer to this question but his heart was still so tormented, he didn't dare let his brain work it out.

"Loki?" Waverly's soft voice jostled the god from his thoughts.

"We both have some thinking to do," Loki said quietly. He finally looked back down at Waverly. Her face was creased with worry but she still looked more beautiful than any woman he had seen before. He allowed his face to soften and took the girl's face in his hands. "We both have difficult decisions to make. When the time comes, I hope to simply keep you from getting hurt."

After the emotional roller coaster that had been the morning, Waverly and Loki now sat across from Clint and Natasha in the mess hall.

Loki, his usual mischievousness having returned, smiled evilly across the table. "This is just like, what to your mortals call it? A double date?"

Waverly snorted into her glass of milk while her brother's ears turned red. Natasha, ever the spy, carefully concealed her emotions. "I told you once before, Loki," she said, "Love is for children."

Waverly noticed Clint glance sideways at his fellow assassin before his ears turned an even deeper shade of scarlet.

Loki's mouth twisted even more evilly. "Whatever you say, Miss Romanoff."

Their witty banter was cut off by Fury storming into the mess hall. His boots 'thunked' against the linoleum floor as he reached the odd group. "Suit up," the director commanded. "They've found him."

"What?" Waverly asked, jumping up from her seat. "Already?"

"Yes." Fury said shortly. "Suit up. Your ride leaves in twenty minutes."

Waverly looked nervously up at Loki who had also risen from the table. When her eyes met the god's, she saw a brief glimpse or reassurance on Loki's face. It was gone before either Clint or Natasha could see it.

Natasha abandoned her breakfast immediately and went to ready herself. Clint shoved a piece of toast in his mouth and mumbled something to his sister that sounded like, 'go get ready.'

Waverly waited for her brother's back to disappear out the mess hall door before she threw her arms around Loki. The god returned the gesture.

"Promise me you'll be careful?" Waverly demanded. Her voice was filled with fear and she choked back a frightened sob. When she spoke again, her voice was full of its usual confidence. "Don't make me hafta save your butt a third time."

Loki ran his fingers through the girl's hair. "I will keep this promise if you keep yours. Stay by my side at all times."

Waverly nodded against the god's chest. "Fair deal."

Loki pulled himself away from Waverly. "Good. Now let's go get my spear."


	27. Chapter 27

**AN: Okay... since this story is also supposed to be funny and we had a lot of touchy-feely-ness in the last few chapters, I threw an argument in this one to hopefully make things funny again. I've decided how I'm ending the story so only a few more chapters left. Hopefully next chapter will be the start of their battle with The Other. Thanks again to all who have reviewed and everything! I hope you enjoy!**

**I own nothing.**

Chapter Twenty Seven:

Twenty five minutes later, the Avengers, plus Loki and Waverly were suited up, armed, and ready on the roof of the tower. Fury stood beside the jet that had been altered to accommodate deep space travel. His boot tapped the ground in annoyance and his arms where crossed tightly across his chest.

"When I say be ready in twenty minutes, that means twenty," the director said. "Not twenty five."

"It would have been twenty had not the Man of Iron stolen my helmet and pranced around the tower like some beast of burden." Loki snarled. The helmet in question was under his arm and he was rubbing it with the edge of his green cape in an attempt to rid the headpiece of Tony's finger prints.

Tony's faceplate slid up to reveal an arrogant grin. "I was just trying it on. I wanted to know what it felt like to be a giant reindeer."

Loki opened his mouth to retort, but Fury swore loudly. "Damn it, Stark. There's a guy out there who can potentially destroy this planet and you're running around like a child."

"Well, ya see," Tony began.

Fury silenced him by holding up one of his massive hands. "Forget it. Just get in and go get your job done."

The hatch to the jet slid open with a metallic 'whoosh' and a plume of steam. Fury stepped aside to allow the Avengers entrance. Natasha, who would be piloting, stepped in first; closely followed by her copilot, Clint. Steve ushered Tony aboard before he could cause any more trouble and Bruce and Thor followed. Waverly and Loki were the last to board. But before either of them set foot on the metal ramp, Fury stopped them with a look.

"I expect both of you to return after this little field trip," he said in a low voice. "You both have crimes to pay for. If you run, I will send my team after you." Fury narrowed his eye and looked pointedly at Waverly. "I don't care if you are Clint's _sister_." Fury finished his sentence with such sarcasm, Waverly balled up her fists and actually took a step towards the director.

In an odd twist of roles, Loki placed a hand on her shoulder and held her back. He sensed Waverly's anger due to the fact that the air surrounding them had dropped approximately ten degrees in temperature. Before any more trouble could arise, Loki said, "Yes, _Director_ Fury." The god's tone was as equally sarcastic.

Waverly, not trusting herself to speak, gave Fury one more glare before turning on her heel and stalking into the jet.

"I gave you an order, _Ice Hawk_."

Waverly stopped but did not turn back to Fury. "Yes. Sir." She spat. Not waiting for Loki, the girl ducked inside to find her seat. If she stayed in Fury's presence any longer, she might jump back out of the plane and punch him in his face. She had lost all respect for her boss.

With a swish of his cape, Loki turned and boarded the jet as well. He felt Fury's one-eyed gaze bore into the back of his head. With a snap of the fingers, Loki cast a spell. A sudden gust of wind knocked the SHIELD director off balance and caused his leather eye patch to fly off his face. And with that friendly goodbye, Loki stepped into the plane and the door closed behind him.

The jet was large enough to accommodate all the Avengers, plus Loki and Waverly, and there were spare seats for additional passengers or prisoners. Seats were arranged in rows of three and there were three rows of three, separated by an aisle way like most aircrafts. The cockpit was separated from the seating area, but connected via a door that could be propped open. Natasha and Clint were already strapped in, doing the pre-flight check. Steve and Bruce sat on either side of Tony, no doubt to ensure he behaved himself. Thor sat across the aisle from them, two empty seats beside him. When Waverly and Loki entered the seating area, Thor waved them both over. Loki gave a disgruntled sigh. Instead of joining his brother, he began to make his way towards one of the empty rows. Waverly cleared her throat and shot Loki a look.

"Fine," he mumbled. "But you sit next to Thor."

Waverly smiled and took the seat next to the god of thunder. Loki sat in the aisle seat.

"Everyone strapped in?" Natasha called from the cockpit.

Loki and Waverly finished buckling their harnesses. When they had finished, Thor called out, "Yes, fair maiden."

"Okay. Here we go." Natasha flicked some switches and Clint consulted the dials on the dashboard. The engines roared to life and the jet, equipped for vertical take-off, began to rise into New York air space. Natasha spoke into her headset, confirming that they were clear for take-off.

The jet rose twenty feet above the tower, which was the tallest building in New York and then gave a jolt forward as it took off up into the atmosphere. Natasha pulled the throttle out as far as it would go, reaching the required speed to break through Earth's gravitational pull. As the jet climbed higher, Clint gave orders to a voice activated computer.

"Heat shields down."

None of the jet's occupants had actually flown into space before. Natasha and Clint had both passed the simulator courses required in order to fly the super jet, but this was their first actual mission in space. It was a terrifying sight; watching the nose of the plane as it broke through Earth's atmosphere. Even with the heat shields, the temperature in the plane rose to nearly uncomfortable levels. The flames sparking off the nose of the jet didn't help either. Waverly was tempted to cool the jet down with a wave of her hand, but she was too busy clutching the arm of her seat with one hand and Loki's arm with the other.

Loki felt that the jet ride was nothing compared to the uncomfortable jolt one felt when first learning to teleport. Compared to that experience, this was nothing. The only uncomfortable aspect was the fact that Waverly's nails were digging into his forearm. For a mortal, she had a pretty strong grip. Loki looked over at Waverly. Her face was pale and she was staring out of the cockpit windshield with wide eyes. Loki bent down to whisper in her ear. "If we are in any danger, I will teleport us away from here."

Waverly's eyes shot over to Loki's face. She seemed a little reassured and removed her nails from Loki's skin.

Mere seconds later, the jet had finally cleared Earth's atmosphere. The occupants felt a jolt as they breached the reach of the magnetic field surrounding the planet. Cruising at a speed that shouldn't have been physically possible, the jet took off towards the coordinates programmed into the computer. Waverly briefly wondered how space could even be mapped out into coordinates, but she had only learned of the other realms a year or so ago. What else didn't she know?

The jet's stabilizers allowed the passengers to ride in comfort, despite moving at nearly the speed of light. The jet also simulated Earth's gravity so the occupants did not have to deal with the disorientating feeling of weightlessness.

"How… How on all… I don't even," Steve stammered.

"We landed on the moon while you were out," Tony said. "Alotta stuff has happened."

"The moon?" Steve tore his wide eyes from the window and looked at Tony in wonder.

"Yes," Bruce confirmed. "Space travel is quite common." The scientist looked curiously into the cockpit. "Though, how we're traveling at such high speeds is beyond me."

Inside his helmet, Tony's eyes flitted across lines of text provided to him by JARVIS. "Apparently, this jet was part of Phase 2. Something else Fury kept secret from the rest of us."

"Fury keeps a lot of secrets," Waverly spat from her seat.

"Are you still on about that?" Clint asked. He had abandoned his seat in the cockpit, the jet cruising on autopilot.

"You think I should forgive him?" Waverly asked, her eyes wide with shock. "After what he did? Hell no."

"You're going to have to face him when we get back."

"Yeah, and I'm gonna put an icicle through his good eye."

"Waverly," Clint said in his best big brother voice. "Just let it go. What's done is done."

It was Loki that spoke up next. "What's done is done?" He repeated. "She was lied to and used. She was a science project. She has every right to seek revenge on the fool."

"Brother, you will not speak about Director Fury in such a manner," Thor scolded.

At the same time, Steve rose from his seat. "She isn't a science project. She's part of an elite group chosen to be super soldiers."

"No, Steve," Waverly said, also standing. "You volunteered for this. I was kidnapped."

"But not by Fury." Steve countered.

"Yes but it was he who supplied her kidnappers with the serum," Loki put in. Despite the fact that the god really was enraged with Fury for how the girl had been treated, he was interjecting these comments to provoke the argument that was bubbling inside the jet. The god's lips twisted as Tony rose, to no doubt contribute to the madness.

"Brother," Thor said. He reached across and placed a warning hand on Loki's shoulder. "I know what you are doing. I must ask that you do not involve yourself with Miss Barton's affairs."

"Why should he butt out?" Tony asked. "He's the chick's boyfriend for crying out loud."

"I do not know the meaning of that term," Loki huffed angrily. He tore himself from Thor's grip and turned to face Tony. "But it is no doubt a Midgardian insult. I can teleport myself away from this blasted aircraft with a snap of my fingers. I would like to see you face The Other without my magic."

"Loki," Waverly hissed.

"Let him leave," Clint exclaimed. "We don't need his help."

"Clint!" Waverly turned to face her brother.

"I do not approve of my brother's behavior, either Mister Barton." Thor was now standing as well. "But I insist you treat him with respect. He is of Asgard."

"I am no more of Asgard than I am a pony," Loki snapped. "The human girl and I are one in the same. Unwanted children used as pawns for those in power."

"That is not why Father adopted you." Thor's voice was rising in anger.

"What's it matter what he intended," Tony asked. "He's dead."

"Yeah," Steve pushed his way back into the confrontation. "Thanks to her." He pointed at Waverly.

"Only because he's manipulating her!" Clint gestured angrily at the god of mischief.

"I have told you before, simple minded mortal, she is acting of her own accord." Loki snarled.

"Loki, he's my brother!" Waverly now rounded on the green eyed god.

"He is no more your brother than Thor is mine!"

"Loki!" Thor pushed past Waverly and turned his brother to face him. "We were raised together! We are brothers!"

"I am a monster used by Odin for his own selfish schemes!"

"Do not speak of Father that way!"

Waverly pushed herself between Loki and Thor. "Your father is just as bad as Fury. Loki should have been told the truth and none of us would even be in the mess we're in now."

"Waverly you can't just insult a god!" Clint yelled.

Waverly rounded on her brother, eyes glaring. "Quit telling me what to do! I'm not a little kid anymore."

"You're acting pretty childish," Steve interjected.

"Steve, shut up!" Waverly yelled. "I'm not like you. This!" Waverly formed a block of ice in her hands. "This isn't an honor for me! I'm not a hero like you. I'm a freak."

Bruce, who had been silent throughout the entire argument, finally raised his voice. "If anyone is a freak, it's me, okay? You all aren't some animal when you use your powers."

"The freak here is Loki!" Clint yelled. "He shouldn't even be here. We should have left him on Jotunheim."

Waverly brushed past Loki and into the aisle. She stormed up to her brother and poked him angrily in the chest. "I happen to love him, Clint. So shut up!"

"I think you're all freaks," Tony said casually, dropping back into his seat.

Loki rounded on the billionaire. "I have had enough of your petty comments, mortal." A blue ball of magic swirled around Loki's clenched fist.

With a hard jerk, the jet stopped and hovered in place. Everyone who was standing tumbled to the floor. Clint and Waverly landed in a heap and Loki was pinned to the floor by his larger brother. Tony and Bruce both fell face first from their seats and Steve fell over both of them. Natasha stalked out of the cockpit.

"Are we through here?" She asked, a red eyebrow raised severely.

"Ah," Loki said. His voice was mumbled but the sarcasm was still detectable. "If it isn't mother coming to give us a time out."

Natasha's other eyebrow joined the first. "Don't make me kick your ass, Loki. Now, I suggest you all get back in your seats and be quiet. I can't fly this thing with you all acting like children."

Clint, face red with embarrassment, climbed to his feet. He pulled Waverly up beside him. She yanked her arm away from the archer. Steve pried himself off of the two geniuses and sat back down in his seat. Tony and Bruce both regained their seats, Tony grumbling to himself. Thor obediently took his seat without another word. Loki glared at everyone before he offered an arm to Waverly and led her back to her seat.

"That's more like it." Natasha turned and with a flip of red hair, she vanished back into the cockpit. Clint followed. As soon as the archer crossed the threshold, the cockpit door slid shut.

The passenger area remained quiet for the remainder of the trip, though it was an awkward silence. Tony listed to rock music via his helmet, Thor polished him hammer. Steve following Thor's actions, retrieved his shield from the back of the jet and polished it as well. Bruce rested his head against the back of his seat, breathing deeply.

With a small wave of his hand, Loki cast a spell that muffled the ears of those around him, minus Waverly. He turned to her and spoke in a normal voice, "Do you really wish to ally yourself with these ignorant fools?"

Waverly glanced quickly around, waiting for someone, most likely Tony, to shoot back an evil retort. When no one even acknowledged the god's question, she looked at Loki with confusion.

"I cast a spell so they cannot hear us," he explained.

Waverly nodded. "I don't know that I really want to be a part of all of this," Waverly admitted in response to Loki's question. She gazed at the cockpit door. "But I can't be against them either."

"I understand."

Waverly sighed and hung her head in her hands. The time for her and Loki to make some difficult decisions was fast approaching. Instead of thinking about her near future, as she should have been, Waverly instead looked back up at Loki. "Shouldn't you bee learning some dark magic or something to fight The Other with? Didn't you say you needed dark spells?"

Loki snorted. "Do you see a spell book?" His tone was harsher than intended. He sighed and took the girl's hand. "In Fury's haste to locate The Other and confront him, I did not have adequate time to prepare. Besides, my books of sorcery are on Asgard."

"Will we still be able to beat him without your dark magic?" The fear in Waverly's voice was evident.

Loki magicked his spear from the rear of the jet. He held it in his free hand, fingering it absentmindedly. "If he has the Tesseract, which he does, then there is a way."

From his tone, Waverly could tell Loki was finished with the subject. She placed her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. In her mind's eyes she saw visions of a hideous monster, The Other. She saw Loki. She saw her brother. There was an endless void. Someone was falling. Someone was screaming. She had to choose. Clint and the Avengers or Loki. As Waverly drifted into sleep, her brow furrowed.

Loki felt the girl tense up beside him. He cast a spell over her mind to calm her and then turned his attention back to his spear. It was a powerful weapon; even he did not know all of the power it possessed. It was true that with dark magic, combined with the power of the Avengers, The Other could be easily defeated. But without his darker spells and twisted incantations, Loki was not sure the might of the Avengers would be enough.

The god's slender fingers stroked the curved tip of the spear. He thought back to the day he had tried to conquer Midgard. The Black Widow had breached the Tesseract's energy barrier by using his spear. If The Other had the Tesseract in his possession, Loki's spear may be enough to pry the cube from his grasp. Then, maybe their might alone would be enough to defeat him.

Still, Loki had an uneasy feeling about this battle. As the jet hurtled through space, Loki couldn't shake the feeling that they were not at all prepared to face The Other.


	28. Chapter 28

**AN: I know I promised a longer chapter this time, and one with more action, but I decided rather than make my readers wait forever for an update, I'd give you guys a short one as opposed to nothing. I'm about to move and start grad school so I'll be busy and won't be updating as often as I have been. This story is almost finished though; maybe three or four more chapters. My knowledge of the Marvel world is limited to the movies and I don't have time to research The Other, so everything at the end of this chapter is pretty much made up. That's pretty much all I have to say. I hope you enjoy; please review!**

**I own nothing.**

Chapter Twenty Eight:

The Avengers' super jet sliced through space faster than any other aircraft known to man. Still, reaching The Other was going to take several hours of space travel. The jet was not large enough to accommodate any type of practice sparring, so Loki, Waverly, and the Avengers had to amuse themselves with whatever they had on their person. Beside, with Thor, Loki, and the Hulk present, sparring could very well destroy the jet. Thor had complained loudly about how they could have just teleported to The Other. Loki, in a voice of forced restraint, had explained that the Avengers, being mere mortals, would not survive such a long distance teleport. Then Thor stated that Hemidall could have provided transport via the Bifrost. Again, Loki was the voice of reason. Having Hemidall transport them to The Other could potentially involve Asgard in a great and terrible war. Since the realm was still recovering from the death of Odin and the Jotun occupation, this was not a wise choice. So, Thor had to deal with flying. The god of thunder had fallen asleep, bored with the human technology. His head was pressed against the glass of his window, a small trickle of drool making its way down his chin.

Thor grunted in his sleep and Loki rolled his eyes. How Odin ever thought that Thor would ever be fit to rule was beyond him. Loki shifted his gaze from his disgusting adoptive brother to the weight on his shoulder. Waverly's mouth also fell open as she slept, but on her, the expression looked attractive. Her lips, always a light shade of pink, were open just slightly, as if enticing Loki to kiss them.

Loki was content to just sit there and watch Waverly sleep. If they never reached The Other and were doomed to fly through space for the rest of their lives, Loki was content to do so with Waverly at his side. But, the god of mischief knew that that could not happen. They would have to face The Other. Loki's mind had come up with a way to defeat him, but his brain had not processed the implications of the solution to their problems.

He was just about to fully comprehend what he was planning to do, when Natasha emerged from the cockpit. She looked around the seating area, her eyes taking in the sights of her fellow Avengers. She rolled her eyes at the sight of a sleeping Thor, an Iron Man jamming out to some AC/DC, and Banner lost in meditation. How could they be so relaxed while they were hurtling to what could very well be their death? Then again, Natasha had long since learned to let go of her emotions, so she had successfully repressed the fear that gnawed at the pit of her stomach. But she was a trained spy and assassin. The other Avengers weren't. Especially not Waverly. How could she look so at peace? Especially in the god of mischief's arms. Natasha crossed to the end of the row that held Loki, Waverly, and Thor.

"Are you going to change for her?" Natasha asked.

Loki started and looked up at Natasha. She infuriated him, the way she could creep up on him like that. The god huffed and painted a displeased look across his face. "Why would I divulge that to you, woman?"

This comment elicited another eye roll from the Black Widow. "What she sees in you is totally beyond me."

"Then it is good that this is not your business." Loki snapped.

Natasha, not realizing she had clenched her fists, unclenched them and relaxed. Still, her face remained emotionless and unreadable. "I don't know what you plan to do after all of this, but let me tell you something. I know Clint better than anyone. He loves Waverly as if she were his real sister."

"And your point?"

Natasha took a step closer to Loki. She lowered her voice, aware that Steve and Clint were probably trying to eavesdrop at this very moment. "My point, Loki, is this. Fury is not about to let you go without punishment. Clint swears on his life that Waverly won't turn against us. So, you have a decision to make. I don't know what type of faith you have, but you better pray that you make the right decision."

"What are you insinuating?"

"If you don't surrender after all this, we have no choice but to go after you. As much as Waverly may love you, her sentence is to serve as an Avenger. She'll be sent after you. Are you prepared to fight her? Possibly kill her?"

Loki blinked but remained silent. Natasha surveyed the god for a moment before she returned to the cockpit. Before her red head disappeared behind the door, she called to the team. "We'll be there in about twenty minutes. Get ready."

Loki wasn't quite sure what to think. He was fairly certain Natasha was just trying to bluff him; make him concede to surrender to SHEILD. He knew Waverly would not fight against him, even if she was forced to fight with the Avengers. But, he knew that once this was over, one way or another, his relationship with the human girl would have to come to an end and he was not about to rot in a prison cell for the rest of his life.

* * *

Looming ahead of the jet was the scorched and desolate remains of dead planet. It was small, making Earth appear a giant. Loki knew this was the place. There was a fortress carved in the crust of the giant space rock and that fortress held The Other. Adrenalin began pumping through the god's veins and Loki gripped his spear as tightly as ever.

Loki was stationed at the jet's hatch, Waverly at his side. She was wide awake, a frosty cloud swirling around her palms. Her brown eyes looked up at Loki and despite the brave face she had put on, Loki could see the fear in her eyes. Taking his free hand, Loki grabbed one of Waverly's icy hands and gripped it with his own. The chill soon evaporated and Waverly appeared calm.

On Loki's other side was Thor. The usual grim smile that preceded battle could be seen on his face. In his hand, Moljnir seemed to radiate power. "Are you ready for our greatest battle yet, brother?"

Loki switched his gaze from Waverly to Thor. "Why do you insist on calling me your brother?"

"Because you are."

Before Loki had a chance to respond, their conversation was cut off by Natasha's voice coming over the loud speaker. "I'm going to fly low over the surface; drop you off. Clint and I will land and join you. See if you can pinpoint The Other's location in the meantime."

The jet dipped low over the wasteland of a planet and the hatch opened with a 'whoosh.' Iron Man was the first to depart, rocketing into the sky before them. Bruce triggered his transformation into the Hulk as he jumped out after Tony. Against all odds, the thin atmosphere that encircled the desolate planet had enough oxygen to sustain the humans arriving on its surface, so space suits were not required. Steve jumped out next, his heart and breathing rate automatically adjusting to the thinner air. Thor swung his hammer before him and was swept from the jet as if a tornado had sucked him up. Finally, Loki and Waverly were all that remained. Loki tightened his grip on the girl's hand and then, with a flash of magic from his spear, teleported them to the rocky surface below.

The Avengers gathered around Loki and Waverly. Tony was issuing verbal commands to JARVIS. The AI scanned the planet with his numerous sensors, pinpointing the location of the Tesseract, and hopefully, The Other. Steve and the Hulk scanned the area around them, getting their bearings.

"What shall our next move be, brother?" Thor asked.

Loki ignored the brother quip and sent his mind into motion. "Obviously, we locate our enemy and then plan a strike."

From behind them, a cruel laugh echoed around the dusty boulders. Loki's stomach dropped the second the sound reached his ears. He knew this laugh; knew it all too well. Loki turned and saw The Other perched on a jagged boulder just feet from them. A haze surrounded him and Loki surmised that he had just materialized out of thin air. The Tesseract was tucked under one of his muscled arms, a deadly sharp lance clenched in the other.

Tony swore in his helmet, JARVIS alerting far too late of The Other's location. The Hulk growled. Steve bent his knees and shifted into a battle stance. Thor took a step forward, but Loki held out an arm to stop him. Taking a quick glance at Waverly, Loki was relieved to see that her facial expression was one of complete hatred, instead of fear. No doubt the girl was terrified, Loki could feel her tense up beside up. But thankfully, she had enough sense to hide it. The Other practically fed on fear.

Loki wished the girl would look up at him so he could give her what he hoped was a reassuring smile. However, the girl's eyes remained locked on The Other, so Loki stepped forward.

"I have been looking for you, Loki Laufeyson," The Other sneered. His voice was low but echoed around the barren planet. His eyes glowed maliciously as he surveyed his prey. "You have not fulfilled the promise you made to me. You did not retrieve the Tesseract for me."

Loki took a chance. "Yes," he said, his voice lacking its usual condescending drawl. He nodded towards The Other's arm. "You have your trophy. Let us be."

The Other cackled and was melodramatic enough to throw his head back as he did so. "Do you not remember our bargain? I supply you with an army, you give me the Cube. You had your army. You failed. I still expected the Tesseract."

"You would have gotten it," Loki lied. "If you had simply given me more time."

"Do not bother me with your lies," The Other spat. "You would have rotten in that Asgardian cell had it not been for the mortal wretch."

Loki resisted the strong urge to look back at Waverly. The Other continued. "You have failed me, Loki. You know the price you must pay." The Other's yellow eyes fell on Waverly and a twisted smile spread across his face. "In the process, you have become weak, feeding on pathetic human emotions. Love." The Other laughed again. "What a shame that you led such a pretty face to her death."

It was at that moment that the Avengers' jet screamed across the sky, a stream of bullets firing from her nose.


	29. Chapter 29

**AN: So I think there will be one more chapter... Sorry this took so long but like I said, I've been busy. Thanks again to all who reviewed/favorited/etc. I hope you like.**

**I own nothing.**

Chapter Twenty Nine:

With a powerful flourish of his arm, The Other had vanished before the bullets could meet their mark. He appeared behind the Avengers, a sickly yellow charge of magic forming in his hand.

Loki was the first to react. He pushed Waverly behind a large rock, and fired a ball of his own blue magic at The Other. The two glowing spheres met in the air and canceled each other out, sending sparks flying across the sky. Using that as a temporary distraction, Iron Man took off, charging up his repulsor beams. The Hulk and Captain America charged The Other.

Waverly crawled out from behind the boulder, glaring at Loki who was standing a few feet in front of her. "I am not going to hide like some little kid," she spat.

Loki rolled his eyes, despite feeling concern wriggle around in his stomach. "Fine. But remember what I said. Stay close."

Waverly jumped up and followed Loki. Ice Hawk formed a deadly sharp spear out of ice, while the god of mischief readied his own weapon. The two descended upon The Other just as the villain threw the Hulk to the side like a rag doll.

Thor thundered down from the sky, literally, and struck The Other with a bolt of lightning. Despite being outnumbered, The Other managed to deflect the bolt while simultaneously dodging Iron Man's blasts. The Other, however, was not quick enough to elude both Ice Hawk and Loki's spears. The god clipped The Other on his shoulder, Ice Hawk stabbing him in the leg. The Other growled and sent a blast of energy that threw Ice Hawk back several yards. Loki leapt gracefully into the air, using his spear as a sort of pole vaulting stick, and managed to dodge the attack.

Meanwhile, Black Widow and Hawkeye had landed the jet and were running towards the battle. Hawkeye nocked an arrow that was set to explode upon impact and let loose as he ran toward The Other. Black Widow charged her Widow's Bite and was prepared to leap on the villain as soon as the smoke from Hawkeye's arrow cleared.

The arrow did nothing except melt the spear of ice that Ice Hawk lodged in The Other's thigh. From behind him, Loki jabbed his spear again, but was deflected. This, however, allowed for Black Widow to jump on The Other's back unannounced. She sunk her Widow's Bite into the thick skin of his neck and let a charge loose.

Ice Hawk was clamoring to her knees, along with the Hulk. Captain America had run over to check on the two fallen Avengers, while Iron Man soared through the sky, covering their backs.

"Are you okay?" The captain called.

The Hulk gave a roar of affirmation while Ice Hawk nodded. She brushed a trickle of blood from her forehead, then with a flick, formed claw-like icicles on her fingertips. She joined Black Widow on the assault of The Other's neck and the two women managed to bring him to his knees.

The Other growled from his position in the dirt. He fumbled with the Tesseract for a moment before using it to create a blast of energy that threw both Ice Hawk and Black Widow into the air. The Hulk jumped up and caught Black Widow while Ice Hawk crashed into Loki.

"He's really getting on my nerves," Ice Hawk moaned, disentangling herself from Loki. "Throwing me around like some kind of toy."

"I told you his power is unmatched." Loki pulled Ice Hawk to her feet. For a brief moment, while Ice Hawk caught her breath, the pair watched the battle. Hawkeye stationed himself on top of a boulder, shooting exploding arrows at The Other. Each hit drove the villain back a step, but the arrows left nothing more than smoking bruises on his skin. Meanwhile, Iron Man was taking shots from the numerous firearms concealed in his armor. From the ground, Thor called to him.

"Man of Iron, do not hit the Tesseract! One stray shot and the energy released could destroy us all."

Loki heaved a sigh.

"What?" Ice Hawk asked.

"Nothing." Loki shook himself. The god readied his spear and leapt back into battle.

Ice Hawk cleared her face of blood and sweat before she followed Loki. She formed another spear out of ice while she watched The Other take on both Loki and Captain America. Off to the side, Black Widow was loading her gun. The Hulk was tossing boulders into the air which Thor hit with his hammer, sending the rock crashing into The Other.

Before Ice Hawk could put her spear to use, a well-timed hit from Clint, Thor, and Loki along with a bullet from Natasha that clipped his shoulder, The Other fell to the ground. The battle was nowhere near over. With an enraged growl, The Other pulled himself up. He swatted Iron Man away like a mosquito and then pulled the Tesseract from the folds of his cloak. Gripping the cube in one hand and his spear in the other, The Other smiled evilly, his yellow eyes glowing.

"You pathetic creatures have made a fatal error, coming here." The Tesseract glowed in The Other's hand, bathing him in an eerie blue light. "You are weak and you will die." What looked like blue lightning sparked from the cube and coiled around The Other's hand. It wound its way up his arm and across his chest. Traveling down his other arm, the lightning began to wrap around his spear. The weapon pulsed before firing off a bolt of blue lightning. The bolt hit The Hulk square in the chest and sent him flying. When he landed a hundred feet behind the group, he was back in his human form, though unconscious.

Ice Hawk watched as Thor summoned his own bolt of lightning but the streak was merely absorbed by The Other's spear and shot back at the god of thunder. Thor skidded across the ground, carving a deep trench in his wake.

"We need to get that spear away from him!" Black Widow called.

Hawkeye aimed an arrow at The Other's spear hand, but a bolt shot through the air before the archer could even let loose his arrow. Ice Hawk shot a jet of water toward her brother, knocking him out of the lightning's path. The lightning, however, traveled along the stream of water, electrocuting Ice Hawk. The girl jerked for a moment before collapsing to the ground.

Loki hurried toward her. He placed his fingers on her wrist and waited. She still had a heartbeat. She was alive. He sat her up and tried to wake her while he listened to the sounds of battle behind him. Thankfully, Captain America's shield could hold up against the lightning. The captain was crouched behind it with Black Widow who was firing at The Other. Somewhere overhead, Iron Man was flying around, attacking as well.

After what felt like ages to Loki, the girl's eyes fluttered open. "You idiot!" He cried, shaking her.

"Jeeze, love you too." Ice Hawk grumbled.

"Water conducts electricity," Loki said, his voice gentler now. He brushed a sweat slicked strand of hair from Ice Hawk's face. "This battle will be too dangerous for you. Wait here."

Ice Hawk opened her mouth to protest, but Loki already jumped back into battle. Ice Hawk would have followed, but her body was so sore and she felt like if she stood up, she'd vomit. So instead, she watched as Iron Man's repulsors beams carved smoking scars into the planet's face, The Other dodging every shot. She saw Captain America and Black Widow crouching behind the shield while her brother hid behind a boulder, shooting at The Other. Bruce was still unconscious somewhere behind her and she heard Thor mumbling from his crater. She had lost sight of Loki.

Ice Hawk's stomach twisted nervously. Something didn't feel right. Taking advantage of all the chaos, she crept along the planet's surface until she was behind the rock with her brother.

"Are you all right?" Hawkeye asked. He tore his gaze from The Other and instead looked at his sister. Still, he managed to shoot arrows that hit their mark.

"Where's Loki?"

Hawkeye tilted his head to the side.

Ice Hawk turned in the direction her brother had indicated. Loki appeared to have popped out of thin air. _He's probably been dodging attacks by teleporting. That's why I didn't see him._ Ice Hawk felt her anxiety drop a notch, but there was still something wrong. The look on Loki's face; he was up to something.

Watching Loki creep up behind The Other, it finally hit Ice Hawk. She scrambled uneasily to her feet, throwing herself over the rock. "Loki!"

Hawkeye grabbed the girl by her ankle, dragging her back down. The Other looked up and fired a lightning both that singed off the tip of Hawkeye's hair.

Momentarily distracted, The Other didn't see Loki jump into the air behind him, his spear aimed toward the ground. The god arced over The Other's head, falling down right above the Tesseract in The Other's right hand. The tip of Loki's spear met the cube with a loud crack and energy swirled around Loki and The Other.

The Other screamed, terror actually spreading across his face. The hand holding the Tesseract began to turn to ash. "What have you done? You fool!"

Loki, feet now on the ground and facing The Other, pressed his spear deeper into the Tesseract. The god shook as the energy consumed his body. There was another crack as his spear broke through the Tesseract's other side.

The Other screamed again, his whole body turning to ash.

"Loki!" Ice Hawk had pried herself from her brother's grasp and was running as fast as her injured body would allow.

Loki wrenched his spear from the Tesseract. The Other fell to the ground, a pile of ashes. Energy swirled around Loki. There was a flash of light and then he was gone.

Ice Hawk, eyes not registering what she had seen, stumbled and fell to the ground. The Tesseract was a few feet from her, shining and blue, with a deep gash through its middle. It was pulsing, as if healing itself and as Ice Hawk watched, the gash closed itself. Next to the Tesseract was a pile of ash, slowly blowing away into space. But there was nothing else.

"Loki!" Ice Hawk called feebly from the ground.

Hawkeye was at her side. He knelt down and pulled her into a sitting position. "Waverly," he said. "I'm sorry."

Iron Man thudded down next to them. "Huh," he said, face plat sliding up. "Whoda thought the bastard would give his life to save us."

Clint smacked Tony in the chest, but only winced in pain himself.

"What?" Tony asked. Then he noticed Waverly on the ground, tears pooling in her eyes. "Oh."

"You're such an ass," Natasha said, joining them. She knelt down on Waverly's other side and together, she and Clint lifted the girl back to her feet.

Steve peeled his mask off his face and wiped away the sweat that drenched his brow. "You two go get the jet, I'll watch her."

Normally, Waverly would have been annoyed that they were treating her like some kind of child. But right now, that's what she felt like. Loki was just… gone. He stabbed the Tesseract, knowing the energy released would be enough to destroy The Other but would also destroy himself in the process. Waverly felt empty. She let the tears roll down her cheeks but was too exhausted to actually sob. She simple stood there and leaned against Steve. She heard voices. Probably the others. But she was in such pain, both physically and emotionally, she tuned them out. It wasn't until two strong hands gripped her shoulders and shook her that she started to pay attention.

Thor was shaking her. The god knelt on one knee so that he was eye level with Waverly. She sniffed and brushed the tears from her eyes so she could see Thor clearly.

"Loki had changed," Thor said, his voice somber. "You changed him."

Waverly knew this should have made her feel better but it didn't. A fresh stream of tears fell from her eyes.

Thor continued. "He loved you unlike anyone he has loved before. Because of you, he gave his life to save us. My brother was truly good as I knew he was."

* * *

"So let me get this straight." Fury paced around the table in the debriefing room. The Avengers, battle scarred and tired, slumped in the cushioned chairs around the glass table. "Loki, god of mischief, the guy who started an intergalactic war with us, the guy who killed 80 people in two days, he was the one who sacrificed himself?"

Clint groaned, head thunking down on the table top. "Yes," his muffled voice answered. "For the millionth time. Director, with all due respect, we just came halfway across the galaxy, how much longer are you going to keep us here?"

"I just don't understand why Loki of all people would sacrifice himself," Fury said, ignoring Clint's attitude.

"It is as Lady Barton and I have been telling you," Thor said. He looked much older than he was, his face creased with sadness at his brother's death. "Loki never was truly evil. He was misguided. Hurt. Confused."

From between Thor and Clint, Waverly sniffed. She had since run out of tears but if someone said the name 'Loki' one more time, she thought she was going to vomit. She loved him. And he had loved her. Waverly thought somehow, someway, after all of this, they would have been together one way or another. But Loki was gone. Dead. And she was alone.

It was Natasha who spoke up next. "Director, we've told you everything. We've given you a fully report. May we be dismissed?" The assassin heaved herself from her chair and walked around the table until she was behind Waverly. "At least let her go."

Waverly turned her red and puffy face up towards Natasha and gave a weak, but grateful smile.

Fury ran a hand over his face and sighed. "Yes, you all may go. I just, I can't believe it."

Waverly stood up and looked straight into Fury's one eye. "I told you." She then took a shuddered breath, turned on her heel, and walked quickly from the room before dry sobs wracked her body once more.

Clint stood and sighed deeply. "God, I hate that son of a bitch," he said. "Even when he's gone, he's causing me problems."

Natasha elbowed him.

"Well, what am I supposed to do, Nat?" Clint groaned. "I'm an assassin. Killing is my nature. How am I supposed to comfort her?"

Natasha was not one to talk about feelings or emotions but, as an assassin, she knew what a death meant. It didn't just mean you opponent was eliminated. Often times there was someone, somewhere that loved the man or woman you just killed. She tried not to think about that aspect of her job, but she knew it was there. All the children without mothers or fathers, wives without husbands, mother's without sons. The list could go on. Waverly was in pain. Natasha didn't know how to comfort Waverly herself, but she knew what the girl needed. Often times, when her missions involved her killing someone who was the parent of a small child, she would sneak back to the location and see how the child was faring. Natasha never regretted her actions, but there was something about the helpless look in the eyes of children. She had to know they were all right. When she would return, the children would be in the care of an orphanage usually. Nuns or other motherly women holding them, rocking them, letting them cry out their sadness. "You need to be there for her," Natasha said. "Let her cry on your shoulder."

Clint sighed again and watched Natasha leave the room. Tony, Steve, and Bruce followed her. Only Clint and Thor remained. Fury was there of course, but he was engrossed in the file of the day's events.

"Did he really love her, Thor?" Clint asked.

"Yes," Thor said. "He did."


	30. Chapter 30

**AN: I didn't think this story would be so long! I'm glad so many people liked it! =] Thank you for all the reviews and everything! I had no idea my story would be so well liked. This is the last chapter but I've left it open for a sequel. I don't know when I'll start it but there will be one. I hope you enjoy.**

**I own nothing.**

Chapter Thirty:

Waverly opened an eye as her alarm clock blared at her from beside her bed. She reached an arm out from under the sheets and switched it off. She groaned and rolled over in her bed. She felt like she had only gotten a few minutes of sleep. Ever since they had come back from fighting The Other, she hadn't been able to sleep. Visions of Loki's final actions haunted her dreams. She would wake up in a cold sweat. Several times, she would roll over, reaching for Loki before she realized he wasn't there. Her eyes were still red and puffy; she hadn't cried over Loki's death for a while now, but she sometimes cried in her sleep. Last night was one of those nights.

It had been a month since the Avengers had returned to Earth. As per her promise, Waverly had officially joined the Avengers. Not much had happened since the battle with The Other. Waverly mostly helped the others rebuild the tower and help rebuild the city that the Frost Giants had damaged. When she wasn't helping the Avengers, Waverly was down in the training center while Fury barked orders at her and honed her powers.

One day, about a week after Loki's death, Fury had made some comment about Loki's death. Waverly had snapped, encasing her boss in ice. Clint had finally stepped in and had a row with the director once Tony and Bruce had defrosted him. The archer had convinced Fury to ease up on his sister; especially with the round the clock security.

Waverly's room was no longer monitored twenty-four/seven but she wasn't allowed out of the tower without an escort. Waverly didn't care, though. She had fallen into a depression ever since Loki died. She was so sure that he loved her and that they would be together after everything was over. She felt empty and alone. Thor had traveled between Earth and Asgard several times, trying to comfort Waverly, but to no avail. Waverly knew the god of thunder was just trying to help. Thor had felt a loss too, more so even with his father also having been killed.

Sighing, Waverly rolled back over and swung her legs out of bed. She padded barefoot to the bathroom attached to her room and stepped in the shower. Waverly had since removed the taps from the fixtures in her bathroom. She instead used her powers to pump water up the pipes and into her shower and sink. Using her powers was bittersweet. Her powers reminded her of Loki which brought a smile to her face but also made her feel even more alone. She knew Loki hated his heritage and hated the fact that he was a Frost Giant, but her ability to manipulate ice always made her feel like Loki was near; his skin had always been so cool to the touch.

Cold water didn't affect Waverly. Rarely did she feel cold anymore, except when she thought about Loki. Waverly allowed the icy cold water to pour down over her face. She scrubbed herself clean and then stepped out of the shower. She didn't use towels anymore. Instead, she a simple thought caused the water to jump off her skin and hair. Waverly walked back into her room and to the dresser. She pulled out her black and blue jumpsuit and got dressed.

Just as she pulled up the zipper, someone knocked at her door. "Come in."

Clint walked into the room. He had been Waverly's rock through this whole situation but, try as he might, he couldn't pull her out of her depression. The siblings sat on the couch in Waverly's room. Waverly dropped her head onto her brother's shoulder and they sat in silence. That's mostly what they did now. Clint would sit with Waverly and just be a presence in her life while she silently mourned. The whole situation made Clint sick. He hated seeing Waverly like this and he hated that it was Loki who was causing her so much pain, but he couldn't do anything about it. Well, it wasn't really Loki who was doing this, it was the small fact that he was dead. Okay, so not so small fact. As much as Clint hated the god of mischief for his past deeds, he couldn't help but share in some of Waverly's pain. It was almost like Loki had become a part of their team. He had made the ultimate sacrifice to save them. Which was odd, seeing as the only reason they were even fighting The Other was because he was after Loki. Clint couldn't help but feel there was something strange about the way everything ended. As much as it bugged him, he kept his mouth shut. He had tried to talk to Waverly about this, but she had just started crying.

Clint was surprised when, after almost an hour of sitting in silence, Waverly spoke up.

"Clint, do you still hate him?"

The archer raised an eyebrow. He honestly didn't know the answer to this question. Clint hadn't been close to anyone in his life. Living as an assassin didn't allow him much time for relationships. But, there were two women who had wormed their way into his heart; Natasha, though he'd never admit it, and his adopted sister. So, when Clint learned that Waverly was in love with the guy who had controlled his mind and made him do horrible things, a war raged inside his mind. He hated Loki, for personal reason and then he hated him even more because his sister loved him. But, Waverly's happiness had always been a priority. If the archer had known Waverly's past and SHIELD's less than ethical practices, he wouldn't have let Waverly stay with the organization. So, Clint had to be happy that Waverly was happy.

Clint sighed. "I hate what he did to me," he said slowly, choosing his words carefully. "But you're my sister. You were happy with him. I don't know what would have happened after all this, but I just wanted you to be happy. I'm sorry that you're in such pain right now."

Waverly nodded. "I guess we should go to the debriefing room. Fury will be waiting."

The siblings stood and Clint led Waverly from the room. Waverly couldn't help but feel a little better knowing that at least Clint had accepted her feelings for the god of mischief. Not that Waverly needed Clint's approval, it just made her feel better. It made her feel like her sadness was justified. No one else seemed to be put out by Loki's death, except Thor. Waverly knew she had to move on. She knew that festering in this depression wasn't healthy, but she just couldn't let go. Loki nagged at the bag of her mind. She saw him in her dreams and nightmares. Her powers reminded her of him. She just couldn't get away from the god of mischief.

So, of course, Fury's debriefing was the icing on the proverbial cake. The SHILED director had called the Avengers into the debriefing room to give them their next assignment. After Loki had stabbed the Tesseract, the energy unleashed by the cube's damage not only killed The Other and Loki, but it caused a sort of worm hole to open. While the Avengers were regrouping after the battle, the worm hole opened up and sucked the Tesseract in its depths. Fury wanted the Avengers to locate it before it fell into the wrong hands again.

That meant going back to the planet where The Other had lived so that Bruce and Tony could work their scientific magic and get a trace on the cube. Waverly was going back to the place Loki had died.

When Fury had dismissed them, telling them they had the next hour to pack up what they needed and get ready, Waverly forcefully pushed herself from her chair and stalked out of the room. Thor was at her heels.

"Lady Barton."

Waverly stopped and allowed Thor to catch up to her but she did not answer the god.

"I know this will be hard for you. It will be hard for me too."

Waverly sighed, willing herself not to cry again.

Thor placed on of his massive hands gently on her shoulder. "Loki's death proved what I knew all along. He was truly good and you know that. Take solace in that thought."

Waverly nodded and went off to her room to get ready.

* * *

"Man of Iron, do not hit the Tesseract. One stray shot and the energy released could destroy us all!"

Loki sighed. He had formulated this plan back on the jet, but now that it was nearing time to execute said plan, he wasn't sure if he could do it. He wasn't afraid, that was for sure. Loki knew that what he was about to do would hurt Waverly in a way he never imagined he could hurt her. Well, in a way he never imagined ever since he fell in love with her. He would give the Avengers one last try. He really thought that his strength combined with the Avengers' would be enough to defeat The Other. But so far, they were losing.

Waverly was at Loki's side. She had heard him sigh and asked, "What?"

Loki shrugged her off. "Nothing." Gripping his spear more tightly, Loki jumped back into battle. He joined Captain America in assaulting The Other. The captain was using his shield to strike The Other while Loki jabbed at him with his spear. Black Widow and Hawkeye were also shooting at The Other. Loki was surprised when a luckily timed hit by all four of them sent The Other falling to the ground. It looked like they might be able to defeat him after all.

As The Other climbed back up, laughing evilly, Loki's stomach dropped. The Other swatted away Iron Man and then pulled out the Tesseract.

In the evil voice Loki knew all too well, he heard The Other say, "You pathetic creatures have made a fatal error, coming here. You are weak and you will die."

Loki watched as the Tesseract's energy swirled around The Other's body and fired from his spear as a bolt of lightning. The bolt hit the Hulk and tossed him through the air. His brother fought lightning with lightning, but Loki knew it would do no good. He heard Black Widow yell that they needed to get The Other's spear away from him but that wouldn't help either.

Loki knew that the plan he came up with on the jet was the only way to stop The Other. Loki was about to strike when he watched as Waverly was struck with a bolt of lightning. The god's eyes widened and he rushed over to Waverly's side.

She was unconscious. Loki took a shaking hand and placed two slender fingers on the girl's wrist. Loki let out a breath he didn't know he was holding when his fingers felt a heartbeat. Waverly was still alive. After a few more agonizing moments, Waverly's eye fluttered open.

"You idiot!" Loki yelled.

"Jeeze, love you too," Waverly snapped.

Loki brushed a lock of hair from the girl's face. "Water conducts electricity. This battle will be too dangerous for you. Wait here." Loki picked his spear up from the ground and ran back towards The Other. Though he was scared that Waverly had almost died, he was also thankful that she had been injured. She would have to stay out of battle. She wouldn't interfere with his plan.

Once Loki put a good distance between himself and Waverly, but was still out of range of The Other's attacks, he teleported himself behind a large boulder a few yards away. Behind the boulder, he cast an illusion of himself. Loki sent the illusion into battle.

The god knew that the striking the Tesseract would unleash enough energy to kill The Other. Loki also knew that the energy unleashed would cause a bright flash of light that would allow him to escape without the Avengers realizing it. Loki wasn't such a coward that he wasn't willing to give his actual life to end this battle, but he knew that in the long run, this was the better way.

Loki knew that Waverly had changed him. He wanted to be with her, keep her safe, make her happy. But, the god still had crimes he had to answer for. He still had punishments to serve. Loki did not want to be away from Waverly. He was not about to surrender himself to a lifetime in prison once this was over. What Loki needed was time to formulate a plan. He needed to get far away from Asgard and Midgard. He needed to come up with a way that he could be free and be with Waverly. The god of mischief may not have been as power hungry and vengeful as he once was, but he still was not about to live in a cell. Loki would teleport himself to the far reaches of the galaxy. He would come up with a plan and then return to Midgard for Waverly. He was the god of mischief after all. Coming up with a plan to live freely with the human girl at his side would be easy. But, he needed to make the Avengers believe he was dead. This would give him the time necessary to come up with a plan.

On the jet, Loki had decided. He would send an illusion of himself to attack the Tesseract. The energy unleashed would destroy The Other and the Loki illusion while creating a flash of light that would mask the real god of mischief's escape. The only think Loki did not like about this plan was that it would cause Waverly so much pain. She would think he was dead. Surely she would mourn. Loki's stomach twisted at the thought.

_You will make it up to her. Once you find a way to live freely, you can give her anything and everything she needs. You will not be apart from her long._

Loki watched as his illusion jumped into the air. The fake spear sliced through the Tesseract. Loki heard Waverly calling his name. He had the strong urge to jump out from behind the rock and run to her. He resisted. Loki watched The Other turn to ash and his illusion disappear. He had to teleport away now.

Loki gripped his spear and closed his eyes. With a jolt, he was gone.

* * *

Loki was not quite sure where he was. The god was sitting in a patch of soft grass on what appeared to be a mountain side. Behind him, the earth rose in sharp, jagged steps and in front of him, it sloped down to level ground. Tall trees rose up around him, their roots twisting over the mountain's rocky surface.

Breathing in the fresh air, Loki realized he was on Midgard. But, this was somewhere on Midgard he had never been. He wasn't near Avengers Tower. The air was cold and snow littered the pine needles in the trees.

Loki stood and began climbing up the mountain. He found a small cave about half a mile up, before the tree line ended. Loki used his magic to conjure up a fire. He sat down in the game and began to think.

The sound of Waverly calling his name echoed around in his head. Loki stared at the fire and forced the sound from his mind. He concentrated on forming a plan that would let him live with Waverly forever.

* * *

He was burned. He was weak. Every bone ached. Every muscle screamed with every movement. He had lost the ultimate weapon, the ultimate source of energy but worst of all, he had failed his master.

When Loki had attacked the Tesseract, The Other had just enough time to teleport away, making it appear as if he had been burned to a pile of ash. He didn't get away unscathed. Some of the Tesseract's energy followed The Other as he teleported away.

The Other had made it to his master's home realm. He crawled up the stone stairs to his master's door. The door opened and The Other crawled inside.

"You have failed me."

"I am sorry master. Give me another chance."

"You are pathetic. I will give you one more chance. Destroy the humans."

"I will." The Other looked up into his master's eyes.

"Good. Make them burn."


End file.
